Simply Wendy

Rosemary Rayne

2012-02-17T11:01:00.001-08:00

Four is a funny, funny year. Not only is Rosemary super smart, she's a super smarty-pants as well.

Background story: a couple weeks ago I spilled an entire mug of coffee on the computer, resulting in a panic. The screen went blank, I disconnected and removed all sources of power, and turned it upside down to dry until Joe got home and took it all apart, cleaned it, and brought it back from the dead.

So, now back to today. Rosemary spilled her milk twice. The second time she knocked it off the table, soaking the chair and area rug with milk. As I'm scolding her for being careless, she notices that I am drinking a cup of coffee.

Rosemary: Mommy, you have to be careful and hold your coffee with two hands.

Me: I'm an adult and I'm [here's where I see where she's going, so I proceed with hesitation] know how to hold my coffee cup.

R: Not always. Remember when you spilled your coffee on the computer? [then she mimics me taking a sip of coffee with one hand, dropping the cup, and innocently saying "oops."]

What a stinkpot!

Then a few minutes later I caught her doing this:

Rosemary: "Mommy, I think I'm already a sunbeam for Jesus because I smile so hard:"

I'm guessing they were talking about "sunbeams for Jesus" at school today. She's cracking me up today!

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Green Smoothie

2012-02-07T08:12:00.001-08:00

Xander had been refusing to eat lately. I found the trick: let Rosemary feed him with a syringe.

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Running

2012-01-29T19:28:00.001-08:00

Last October I took up running. I did my first 5K on October 30. Then in November I did a turkey trot. Last weekend I kicked butt and did my first 5 miler! It was grueling. It was in Clearwater and up and down two major inclines twice, including the the causeway which was absolute torture. I was pretty much ready to give up running at that point, but after the race I felt pretty good and wasn't very sore. So I signed up for a 15k! It's in March. I ran 6 miles today and decreased my minutes per mile by 2!

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Tangled

2012-01-29T15:51:00.001-08:00

The children have been amazing today! Rosemary did not have one fit. That's huge for her! We normally have a strict bedtime, but are letting them stay up a little later for a movie party tonight. I might even make some popcorn.

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One day I'm going to have a clean house...

2012-01-16T15:55:00.001-08:00

and wish it looked like this instead.

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Busted lip

2012-01-12T12:08:00.001-08:00

This is not a happy sight. My poor baby busted his lip today. He's sleeping now. I won't put him down. I hope he feels better when he wakes up.

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December

2012-01-06T19:03:00.001-08:00

December was a busy month and there are so many things that I am not doing justice by grouping them all in this one blog post, but we're already well into January so if I don't post this all now I may never get around to it!

The first big event was my baby girl's 4th birthday! It was also the first time I celebrated her day with her at school! Wow! That was an event! I will never forget driving home from it and thinking "now THIS is why I became a mom!" It was so neat to see her interact with her classmates and have them celebrate her birthday! I brought in a cookie cake and we sang happy birthday! My camera phone is so slow so I didn't get great photos (and I don't want to post photos of her classmates without their parents permission). But here's one of Rosemary with her cookie cake.

I haven't thrown her a big party since she turned 1. We usually do a playdate party, or last year we skipped the party altogether and had a special day instead. This year she really wanted a party. Not just any party, but a Princess and the Pea themed party! It was a blast to plan! It was also such a neat celebration! At the beginning of the year I worried and stressed and fretted because we didn't have any close girlfriends. Now look at her. She was surrounded by princesses (and princes). I felt a lot of love that day and want to thank everyone who came to help us celebrate! I've worked extra hard this year creating a community for her and I really felt it pay off on her birthday. All that stressing was worth it!

Here's just an everyday photo. Xander's new thing is riding the vacuum. As soon as he sees it, he hops on and gets really excited!

Here's another every day snapshot. The weather has been nice enough so we've been spending a lot of time outside. Here are the kids on the patio enjoying the weather!

Once of Rosemary's favorite birthday presents this year was science kit. The girl is destined to be the next Marie Curie! She LOVES science! And I love hearing her talk about her pipettes and test tubes! My little genius :)

Another big event was Rosemary's first school Christmas party. I was able to help out! First, we decorated sugar cookies.

Then we did some arts and crafts and games. Here's Rosemary decorating the class Christmas tree.

I also took Rosemary to the Tampa Bay Ballet production of the Nutcracker. I won't go into specifics on the actual event, but we looked darn cute. I even curled her hair for the first time!

Rosemary's ballet class did their first little performance for the parents. I got it on video, but gave up after three failed attempts at uploading the video from my phone. It was so sweet! Here's Rosemary and her teacher, Miss Amanda.

As our tradition, we spent Christmas in Jacksonville with my parents. We were also able to schedule some fun time with our good friends, The Martins! We've known them since right before we got married and they have always been our role model for how we want our family to be. I can't say enough how much we look up to this family. Anyway, we met them for a fun family evening at Winter Wonderland in St. Augustine. It was so cute! There was an elf village:

and ice skating (notice Joe and Rosemary in the center and our friend's kids off to the side):

And of course if there is a boy WAY too old around, Rosemary is going to fall in love with him. Meet J.T. We may be family one day :)

I fell in love with this outfit and HAD to get it for Xander! He is still at that toddler stage and walks like a penguin! I LOVE it! Also take note of his long, curly hair. Stay tuned...

My mom has a community garden so we took the kids on a little field trip to go visit. What a perfect way to get the kids to eat their veggies! Here, Rosemary's sampling some of grandma's lettuce. She BEGGED us for homegrown collards for dinner that night!

Here's my cutey patootie nephew, Malachite. We only get to see them once or twice a year. He's at such a cute age! Rosemary loved playing with him! I wish we had more time together. The kids were all at such a cute age in how they played together. All the grandkids, yes, even Xander, go scooters for Christmas. Here's Malachite showing his off:

I did some crafty projects for presents this year. I made Joe a race car/massage shirt! The kids roll the cars over the shirt and Joe gets to relax and get a little massage at the same time!

Rosemary collects "rocks" (usually broken pieces of cement which is Florida for "rock" but I'm not going to break it to her) everywhere we go. They have been strewn about our screened in porch all year and I got tired of looking at the pile so I decided to give her a proper place for her rock collection. Of course, a princess needs a bedazzled one, so I had to give it some special touches :)

Xander definitely got the best of my creativity this year, though. I pimped out his cozy coupe. This was one of those orange and yellow little tikes cars. He LOVED it and I thought it could use a little makeover. Some spray paint, stars, flames and fuzzy dice and now it's a ride!

You can see the flames a little better in this picture:

And, we finally decided it was time to cut Xander's hair. I wasn't ready for a full on short cut, but we got rid of the wings. He did amazingly well! As long as he had his lollipop he didn't mind it a bit!

On New Year's Day we continued with a tradition we started when Rosemary was Xander's age and skipped last year but missed. We spent the day at the aquarium. It was Xander's first time and since Rosemary had been in a year it was a nice experience! We decided to take the kids on a trolley ride around Tampa, too. It was Joe's and Xander's first time and Rosemary didn't remember going on it before so it was a lot of fun! Here's the family waiting at the trolley stop. I have no idea why Rosemary has the pouty lip.

We're working on Xander feeding himself. He doesn't like me feeding him anymore, so this is what happens. It's so stinking cute right now, but I learned from Rosemary that I do not laugh when he makes this big of a mess because then he'll get the idea in his head that it's cute. Rosemary still hasn't learned how to eat without making a huge mess and I'm afraid it's because I let her think it was cute for so long! This time around, it's just kind of gross. And funny.

And last but not least, Rosemary asked me to take her picture today because she "looks pretty with my pretty bow." How could I resist? She NEVER lets me take her picture, much less asks for it! And, yes, she does look pretty!

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November

2011-12-15T17:02:00.001-08:00

Time is once again passing me by. I don't know where this year has gone. I literally blinked after Rosemary started school and we had Halloween, Thanksgiving, and my baby girl turned 4! Here is just a small recap of some of the events of the past month. They are not even the most important- just the ones I had ready access to pictures of. There will be a post coming about Rosemary's birthday as soon as Joe gets pictures uploaded. I have LOTS to say about that! In the meantime, here's a snippet of the goings on in the B family!

Rosemary's first boyfriend came over one Friday night while his mom had plans she had to attend to. I had so much fun watching the two of them play. First, they gleaned the lemons off my tree...

then we juiced them...

and then we enjoyed some fresh lemonade!

We also had pictures taken. It donned on me that in the four years that we've been a family with kids, we have never had a professional picture taken. In fact Joe and I haven't had a professional picture since our wedding almost 10 years ago. It was time. We got all prettied up and went down to University of Tampa for a portrait session. They turned out pretty amazing thanks to Courtney Vickers Photography.

Since we were already down there, we decided to make an evening out of it. We first went ice skating at Curtis Hixon Park. It was such a beautiful set up! I hung out with Xander while Joe and Rosemary performed unbelievable feats on ice :)

We went to a Thanksgiving playdate at a friend's house. We made turkey centerpieces out of rocks. It turned out super cute. I didn't get a picture of the finished product and it's already packed away for next year, but take my word, it was cute!

One weekend we decided to head to Busch Gardens to put our passes to use before they expire. Rosemary rode her first roller coaster! She liked it so much that she did it again- and requested the front seat! I love my little risk taker!

On Thanksgiving day we did a Turkey Trot (ran a 5K). The funniest part was that they gave out free cakes! I chose a turkey cake. It cracks me up!

My favorite new Thanksgiving tradition this year was our Thankful Tree. I put it up on the first day of November and every day Joe, Rosemary, and myself had to write down one thing we were thankful for that day. We could not repeat anything. It started off "Rosemary is thankful for her toys" and escalated to "Rosemary is thankful for ballet and God." I will definitely be doing this again next year!

We bought a brand new dining room during the Thanksgiving sales. The kids helped put it together. Rosemary was surprisingly a big help. Xander, not so much.

One of my new Christmas crafts is this felt Christmas tree. It was such a good idea in theory. I first put it up with sticky tack. That lasted all of 5 minutes. Then I tried using thumb tacks, but Xander kept pulling it off the wall- tree and tack- so that didn't work. Finally I just staple gunned it on the wall. Xander still pulls and tugs at it and pulls all the ornaments off every time he walks by it. So, not so much of a hit this year. Maybe next year it will work out better!

I promise there is SO much more going on, but that's all I had pictures for tonight!

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Ballet

2011-11-10T06:58:00.001-08:00

I've been remiss about updating lately. There is a lot to catch up on, but for now I leave you with a picture of Rosemary on her first day of ballet class.

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Snippets of time

2011-10-25T14:41:00.001-07:00

On our evening stroll "mommy, can we stop here and rest? I wish we brought my fishing pole."

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Fall Fun!

2011-10-16T20:13:00.001-07:00

What a perfect weekend! Rosemary started soccer, we met friends for brunch, went to our first Fall Fest of the year, and spent lots of fun time with the family! Here are some pics from this weekend's festivities!

Here's my girl in her adorable jersey and soccer gear! I have never been more proud of her in her entire life than I was on Saturday! She ran right out on the field and had the time of her life! I have never seen her take to something so quickly. I think she might be a natural!

Look at that kick! Right in the goal! Thatta girl!

The huddle was the cutest thing I've ever seen. A bunch of 3 and 4 year-olds shouting "GALAXY!" That's their team name. Perfect for our little science buff. I swear this whole soccer thing is kismet. She is in her element!

And of course we treated her to some cotton candy on the way home!

Here are the kids and I at the Horsepower for Kids Fall Fest pumpkin patch. It might be the only picture I have where all of us are looking at the camera!

This was Xander's first hayride!

I love this sweet picture of the kids!

Is he not the cutest little man ever? He had so much fun running around the farm. He really liked the animals and the dirt and even tried feeding the llama! I am so smitten with this little guy!

There were a lot of cool things to do there. Rosemary rode a pony, climbed a haystack, went through a hay maze, and we found this cool rope bridge she walked across. I think both kids loved it out there today!

Next week we have a lot more fun fall activities planned! More pumpkin patches, Halloween parties, and who knows what else! I love this time of year!

Happy Birthday Little Man!!!

2011-09-26T09:16:00.001-07:00

We spent Xander's birthday weekend at the Nick Hotel in Orlando. Both sets of grandparents joined us and it was a really great way to celebrate his birthday! We didn't plan everything out perfectly but it all worked out great! Joe had better pictures of all the fun we had at the resort, but here are two of the important festivities- opening presents and eating cake!

Xander had his twelve month checkup today. Usually he does great, but he really didn't want any part of it today. He did grow a bit, he's 20 pounds and 29 inches, which puts him at the 24th and 12th percentiles, respectively. That's a gain from last time when he was at the 10th and 7th percentiles so I was happy. Hopefully my little man will sleep a lot today after his icky shots.

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Figured I'd update this with highlights of his 12th month:

- He has 6 teeth!
- We're working on weaning (he uses his teeth- breastfeeding is not so much fun). He likes formula in his bottle but we're working on whole milk and the sippy cup.
- He definitely lets us know when he's unhappy. He gets angry when you take something away from him, which is a new development from his previous happy-go-lucky calm self. I'm hoping this is just a short phase and once he has more words it'll all disappear and he'll be back to his calm, happy-go-lucky self. He still is happy most of the time.
- He's a daredevil! He cracks up when he falls and will climb anything. He is so stinking cute!
- He eats almost anything and like his sister prefers his food whole rather than cut up. I have to monitor him pretty closely when he eats.
- He likes to be included in everything. He likes to color and spends almost as much time putting the crayon to the paper as he does in his mouth!

One year later...

2011-09-22T20:26:00.000-07:00

One year ago from right now I was checking into UCH. An hour or so later I had my epidural. A few hours later I had my baby boy. What ensued over the next couple days was nothing short of a nightmare. Over the past year as I've told people about Xander's meconium aspiration, I've had two people tell me of someone they know who went through the same thing. Only their stories didn't have a happy ending. I am so blessed our nightmare only lasted a couple days and ended happily ever after... I will admit to giving my little man a few extra hugs and kisses today.

On a personal note, this has not been an easy year for me- as a mother or wife. No one can raise a child, let alone children, on an island. I've worked extra hard this year to increase the "village" surrounding me and my family. It's required me to be more careful about who I open up to, reach a little further to make connections, put more effort into some relationships and quietly seek distance from others. I've felt many doors open this year and am grateful for some of the new friendships and support systems I've been finding. This year has also required me to seek assistance and ask for help when needed. Joe's schedule has called for a lot more travel than ever before, but I am SO lucky that he is such a hands-on father and happily takes over after a full day of working so I can put my feet up (or at least go to the bathroom alone and maybe clean a dish or two) while he gets the kids ready for bed. As always I've been relying on my parents, perhaps more this year than ever before. I've experienced more growth this year than perhaps any other and feel much stronger than ever before. Having two children has required me to let some things go and only draw attention to the most important matters. I am very happy with the relationship I have with both of my children. The three of us are a team. We work together- and while at times we butt heads (nothing can cause dissonance like a three year old!), we are constantly learning from and supporting each other. Rosemary told me the other day "Mommy, you're not always a good mommy, but most of the time you are." At three, she doesn't always filter her thoughts and while she was probably thinking of the time I didn't let her eat cookies for dinner, it was a true statement and something I accept. We live in a society where we are always expected to overachieve and be the best at everything we do. There is so much esteem placed on being the best. As a mother, perfection is unattainable (how do you measure perfection anyway?). I spent three years trying to be "the best." And now I realize that I was wasting my time. My children don't want or need me to be "the best" mother. They need me to be THEIR mother. They need to see me succeed, but they also need to see me fail. They need to see me happy, but they also need to see me sad. They need me to be there for them, but they also need to learn independence and self-reliance. I can't make my children into the people I want them to be. I can only support them as they become the people they are.

This post is all about my growth and development over the past year. I've spent most of the day preparing for Xander's birthday celebration this weekend and it dawned on me how much my life has changed this year. Tomorrow I will celebrate my son's first year of life and the amazing little person he is. But tonight I celebrate the person I have become over the past year.

Baby steps

2011-09-08T05:43:00.001-07:00

Xander took his first step yesterday!!! I didn't get it on video or even a photo. We were at the park with some friends and he let go of my hands, stood on his own for the longest he ever has, and then took one step toward me! He was so proud of himself!!!! I'll keep trying to get a video of it!

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Labor Day weekend

2011-09-05T19:25:00.001-07:00

Note: I tried a new mobile blogging app and the pictures turned out very poor quality. I think I'll stick with my old one next time. :(

Labor Day might be my favorite holiday given that Joe has a four day vacation!! We made very good use of that time. We used Friday to be productive and get some errands done, then finished the day at the monthly First Friday celebration nearby complete with bouncy house and balloon animals. We made it an early night since the kids were kind of pooped. Saturday was spent mostly getting things done around the house until evening where we found a festival complete with pony rides, train, bouncy houses, music, and fireworks! We brought a blanket and set up camp out on the lawn and had a really fun evening! I couldn't believe the kids lasted all night! Xander was mesmerized by the fireworks while Rosemary, in her intellectual way, judged all of them ("that was too squiggly, that one's too loud, that one's too green.") I finally told her that we didn't need to rate them, we can just enjoy, and then she seemed to sit back, relax, and enjoy the show! On Sunday we packed up the minivan and headed to Orlando for our good friends baby's baptism. We got there a little early so we stopped by the self-proclaimed World's Largest Mcdonald's Playplace. We played a few games of tag, and some hide and seek before it was time to head to the church. After the ceremony and lunch we headed back to the Brown's place where we were able to spend the rest of the day catching up. We ended up heading home around 9. With such a long weekend and late nights for the kids, we spent Monday at home playing, cleaning, and getting some rest. Here are some pics from the weekend festivities. I didn't take a ton of pictures, so this is all I got!

Here are the kids at the Celebrate Oldsmar festival on Saturday:

Rosemary LOVED the bunnies at the petting zoo!

It was so cool to ride the ponies right by the water!

Here's Rosemary's very secret hiding place while playing hide n seek. Can you find her?!

Xander really liked the turtle!

Pictures

2011-08-30T16:21:00.001-07:00

I tried uploading some videos, but I guess it didn't work. While I get that sorted out, here are some recent photos of life in the B household!

Every baby needs a picture of themselves in the toy box:

Here's Rosemary's first day of school! We left the tiara, Pooh, and Piglet in the car.

I've been sick off and on all summer and Rosemary was so sweet. She got the measuring spoons out and made me some "medicine" and made sure I took 3 teaspoons a day. Maybe she'll be a doctor.

Here's Xander at the spraypark!

Joe was out of town last week so my mom came down to stay with me and we found some wax lips. We thought it would be funny to wear them while picking Rosemary up from school. She didn't find it so funny. But we thought we were hilarious!

We went shopping and found this adorable bumblebee costume. I couldn't resist. At least now I don't have to worry about what she'll be for Halloween! I'm thinking maybe Xander can be a bee hive. Or a honey pot. Or a spider. I'll keep working on that.

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11 Months Old

2011-08-27T20:48:00.000-07:00

This has been a crazy busy week. Rosemary started preschool. Joe was out of town most of the week and my mom came to stay with us. I almost forgot it was also the week Xander turned 11 months old. I can't believe he will be one year old in less than a month. It went SO much faster than Rosemary's first year. I think I blinked and this year flew by. Here are some of the highlights of my little man's past month...

- He's starting to cruise one handed but has yet to stand or walk on his own yet. He wants to but he's perfectly happy crawling everywhere and climbing everything.
- He is THE happiest baby EVER. I seriously cannot get enough of him.
- He is now playing with Rosemary. Anything she does, he wants to do. Unfortunately she doesn't always appreciate this built-in playmate and I often hear "MOOO--OOOMMM can you get Xander?!"
- He is very independent and will happily entertain himself for long periods of time. His favorite game right now is emptying the tissue box or Rosemary's drawers. Such fun games. He's starting to put things back in, but he hasn't learned to let go of it yet so he'll sort of "dip" toys back in boxes or bags but isn't quite ready to clean up after himself yet. But he sure loves making the mess!
- He also loves playing with balls. I'm pretty sure he's going to be a baseball player. He has a REALLY good throw!
- He's eating lots of table foods and sometimes I can't find enough food to keep him happy. He moved on from Baby Mum Mums to Keebler Club Crackers and right now his favorite food is bananas. Give that boy a banana and you'll think you just gave him the winning lottery ticket!
- He's cutting his fifth tooth.
- He's babbling a lot. He's starting to tell us stories and I'm sure he knows exactly what he's saying.
- He LOVES to scream. Sometimes he gets so into it his whole body will shake and then he will start cracking up. It is the cutest thing to see, but not something I want to encourage!
- I took him to the spraypark for the first time last week and he LOVED it! He crawled all over the place and had so much fun! I'll post some pics next time I'm on my phone.

Happy 11 months baby boy! You are my little sunshine!

The night before preschool and all through the house...

2011-08-21T17:37:00.001-07:00

Tomorrow is my baby's first day of preschool. Being the sentimental woman I am, I get teary just thinking about it. In my heart I know she's ready and she's excited and it's going to be so good for her. I've felt like my job for the past three and a half years has been leading up to tomorrow. I've done all I could to prepare her and now she's ready to learn on her own. I'm proud of the fact that I've taught her all the basics- shapes, colors, numbers, counting to 10 (sometimes 20 or even 100 depending on her mood), letters, letter sounds. I've taught her songs and games and how to share. We cook together, we go on walks together, we read books and trace letters and numbers and do lots of art and craft projects. I taught her how to cut with scissors. Now it's up to her teachers to help with the rest. My biggest hope is that she will learn to listen and become self confident when I am not around. I would be out of my mind thrilled if she comes out of that school with a passion to learn and excitement for school that rivals mine and Joe's. I'm so excited for my little girl to take this huge step. It's a big day for her! I keep channeling Dr. Seuss...

KID, YOU'LL MOVE MOUNTAINS!

So...
be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray
or Mordecai Ali Van Allen O'Shea, (or Rosemary Rayne)
you're off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So...get on your way!

Sunset beach picnic

2011-08-09T19:21:00.001-07:00

Our favorite family pasttime this summer is hands down our sunset picnics at Treasure Island. This was on Saturday evening. Just a little snippet of life in Florida!

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Peekaboo!

2011-08-02T17:49:00.001-07:00

This is what I saw after giving Rosemary some good night kisses. I thought he'd be asleep!

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I made a boat!

2011-08-01T07:59:00.001-07:00

Rosemary and grandma had a fun craft project this morning. And it floats! Now Strawberry Shortcake and friends can go cruising.

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Fashion show

2011-07-30T15:35:00.001-07:00

Grandma took Rosemary school clothes shopping today so we had a little fashion show. I know the photos are blurry, but I was shooting a moving target with my phone camera. I have a feeling Rosemary is going to be the best dressed in her preschool class! Now my mom and I are trying to finish up some of the clothes we bought fabric for last time I visited!

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Strawberry Shortcake

2011-07-29T15:44:00.001-07:00

Rosemary's obsession of the week is Strawberry Shortcake. My mom has all my old Strawberry Shortcake dolls from the 80s and cleaned them up so she's been playing with them since we got here. Tonight for dessert my mom treated us all to strawberry shortcake, which Rosemary enjoyed while watching a Strawberry Shortcake movie! Xander wanted a little piece of it and I had to get it on video. Enjoy!

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Xander's clapping!!!

2011-07-28T17:24:00.001-07:00

Yay Xander!!!

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Ten Months Old

2011-07-24T18:57:00.000-07:00

My little man turned ten months old yesterday. Poor little guy celebrated it with a fever. He really doesn't feel well today. I hate seeing my baby sick but I know he's going to be ok. I have a feeling it's either roseola or will pass and we'll never find out what it is. But even though he's not feeling great, he managed to do the cutest things today! This morning I was blowing on his face. He did the usual cute baby face and then he blew on my face! Joe tried getting it on video but it was really hard to get the right angle. It looked like he was blowing raspberries and then he'd laugh. Later in the day he was imitating me making other funny noises. I did a sort of "uh, chh" sound. I can't really type it out, but he'd do it after me. It was so funny seeing this little guy making these funny sounds imitating me! Here's a little snapshot of what my little man has been up to this past month:

- Imitating everything! In addition to the funny sounds I make, I've heard him meowing at the cat, who he loves to chase around the house.

-He said "banana!" I tried getting him to say it again today, but he just wanted to eat it and wasn't in the mood to say it.

- He's eating pretty much everything at this point (except choking hazards of course). His favorite meal seems to be mini bowtie pasta, cooked chicken pieces, and green beans. And he loves ice cream! He also loves Baby Mum Mums. He's not a big fan of Cheerios or Puffs, but put a Baby Mum Mum in his hand and he's a happy camper.

- He is cruising all over the place and loves walking his dinosaur! He hasn't attempted standing on him own yet, but I have a feeling that's not too far away.

- He gets into EVERYTHING. Unfortunately, he seems drawn to the toilet bowl brush so I have to make sure to keep the bathroom doors closed or that will be the first place he heads. He's very independent and will happily play by himself until he gets hungry or tired. I'm not used to having such an independent baby and I often feel bad that I'm not giving him more attention, but he's so happy. While Rosemary could cuddle and read books with me all day, he'd much rather crawl around the house getting into things or climbing things.

- He loves the Fisher-Price Little People farm that was mine when I was little. It's in Rosemary's closet and he will happily sit in there and play with it all by himself. He mostly puts the little people in his mouth and opens and closes the barn doors, but he loves it and it will entertain him for a long time!

- He and Rosemary are playing together more and more. Unfortunately, I think she knows he's getting bigger and stronger and now she doesn't feel like she needs to be so gentle with him so she often knocks him over (not a problem on the carpet but when he hits his head on the hardwood it's enough to give me a little heart attack and make him cry). But he holds his own pretty well!

I'm already getting emotional about him growing up. I love the age he is now and I just wish I could freeze time. I can't get over how much faster it has gone with him. He is just a little angel.

Caught in the act

2011-07-21T12:40:00.001-07:00

My kids are killing me with their cuteness today. Rosemary saw Xander eyeing her banana (which he really loves in case you didn't catch my last post!) and started feeding him. It was so sweet until the very end where he got a really big bite! I hope this is a sign that they are going to be good at sharing lots of things!

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First word

2011-07-21T06:12:00.001-07:00

Xander said "banana" this morning!!!!

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Time flies...

2011-07-12T19:14:00.001-07:00

No pictures to accompany this post. Just wanted to pop on and record a few things I've been ruminating about and need to get out of my head. My children are growing so fast. Rosemary is a little lady. I am SO proud of her. It has not been an easy road, but when I look at her and see how amazing she is and what a gorgeous, intelligent, headstrong, motivated little lady she is becoming, I realize that all the sleepless nights, all the meltdowns (hers and mine), all the time spent stressing about every little thing was SO worth it. She is not the child I imagined in my head that I would have one day. She is SO much more amazing than I ever could have dreamed. It is truly astounding how she is this human being, completely separate from me, and yet, I MADE her. I felt her kick before she even took her first breath, and now she is about to start preschool. Her imagination is Oscar-worthy. Whether she's playing Princesses or doing an art and craft project, she adds her own little spin to everything she does and makes it FABULOUS (who else would have turned an unfinished wooden birdhouse into a home for little princesses by adding pink paint, glitter, and sequins?!) And Xander is Mr. Personality. He flirts with EVERY pretty lady he sees. He was even flirting with Fergie on tv today! He is not yet walking on his own, but he is climbing on everything and has no problem giving the cat a run for his money. He is starting to express his likes and dislikes (I believe he might just one day be as verbal as his sister, so Lord help me!) I always thought Rosemary had the market cornered on the most emphatic facial expressions, but he is definitely giving her some competition. And he LOVES me. Rosemary was always a mama's girl, until Xander came along, but he has always preferred daddy. Until lately. Now he gives me these humongous slobbery, open-mouthed kisses that make me melt. His little grunt when he laughs gives me goosebumps. I don't know any parent that was not affected by the Casey Anthony trial. It helped put a lot into perspective for me. No matter how truly difficult things get, even when it's tantrums and meltdowns that are making things difficult, I have never once lost sight of how truly blessed I am to be a mother. I have never once taken for granted the gift that I have been given of being a mother. I want nothing more than to do the best for them, and be the best for them. The thought I struggle most with as a mother, especially a stay-at-home mom, is that I am not good enough for them or that they deserve better than me. There are so many thoughts and feelings and judgments that the Casey Anthony trial has brought up in me that I can't even express without breaking down and crying. But to sum it up, I would give my life for my children and can not imagine losing one of them- regardless of whether it was intentional or accidental. I don't think I'd be able to go on living. Ever since the trial, I can't stop staring at them and giving them extra attention. Rosemary is loving it, but did ask why I was smiling at her so much the other day. I just told her because I love her. And that was the entire truth.

Milk n honey

2011-07-09T17:26:00.001-07:00

It has been quite a while, a little over nine months to be exact, since Rosemary and I have had a special day just the two of us. I needed some bonding time with my daughter and, given our love of tea parties, decided to make reservations at a local tea house for afternoon tea for just the two of us. What an incredible day! The tea room was lovely- decorated like a traditional a victorian tea shop. The tea- I had blueberry green tea while rosemary opted for apple juice- was amazing. So amazing in fact, that Rosemary drank my tea instead of her juice! There was a baby shower in the larger room that includes a childrens dress up area, so we were seated in a more intimate, but no less lovely, room and our server brought the dress up clothes, and a couple Barbie dolls, to us! When our food was ready, served on a three-tier tray, of course, it was amazing! The lowest tray had sandwiches- pbj and turkey and cheese shaped like butterflies for Rosemary and assorted finger sandwiches and wraps for me. The second tray had watermelon balls, scones, and devonshire cream, and the top had the most amazing assorted pastries! The owner is also the chef and she is amazing. I have no idea how she can make a cucumber sandwich such a delicacy! By the time we were finished eating, the baby shower had ended and we were invited into the large room to play dressup. It was the most amazing day that I have had with my daughter in forever! I don't think either of us will forget it for a long time to come.

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Mermaid lessons

2011-07-08T13:05:00.001-07:00

We just spent two weeks visiting grandma and grandpa in Ponte Vedra. The highlight of the trip was the swimming lessons my parents signed Rosemary up for. We were able to finish the first three, and will continue with the next three when I return at the end of the month. She's getting there!

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Open the door, get on the floor...

2011-07-04T05:43:00.001-07:00

Xander walks the dinosaur!!

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Nine months old!!

2011-06-24T17:38:00.001-07:00

My little man is 9 months old already!! I had his checkup today and he is 17 lbs 5 oz and 27 inches long. He has actually gone down in percentiles (from about 25th in both height and weight to 12th in height and 7th in weight) but he is perfectly healthy and I'm not worried. I'm surprised because I feel like he's gotten so big and I was sure he had jumped up in percentiles but I guess my little man just wants to remain little for a while longer! He is my sweet little angel and I am so in love with him. He is, for the most part, a pretty chill little baby. Here is a snapshot of my little man:

- he has 4 teeth- two top and two bottom, with more popping through

- he is a scooter. His favorite thing to do is chase the cat around the house! He is surprisingly fast so he usually catches him, too. Romeo is so good about it. He has never scratched him.

- he is starting to eat more table foods. His favorites seem to be sweet potatoes and crackers. And he makes the funniest faces when he eats quinoa!

- he is starting to stand up and cruise along furniture! I have a feeling he'll be walking before he crawls on all fours!

- he loves to explore. Gone are the days when I can sit him down and walk away. Now he will find his way into some kind of trouble- usually eating Cheerios I think he hides under our console! Ewww.

- he has the sweetest laugh and often snorts!! His smile had changed now that he has teeth and it cracks me up!!!! I can't tell you enough how in love with him I am. I want to eat him up!!

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Crafty times

2011-06-23T20:41:00.001-07:00

Things have gotten pretty boring around here in the arts and crafts department so I decided to take it up a notch. We made a trip to the Dollar Store to stock up on new supplies. Rosemary saw this unfinished birdhouse and asked if she could paint it for grandma. I asked her how she wanted to paint it and she pointed to a pack of pink, purple, silver, and gold sequins and glitter! The picture does not do it justice. This birdhouse looks liked a pink and purple disco ball!! We also went back and added glitter to the edges. Of course, Rosemary insists this is a home for little princesses who come out at night when she's sleeping and make her toys come alive. She put lots and lots of glitter and sequins, our sprinkles as she calls them, inside to attract the little princesses. And do not call it a fairies house. She will adamantly explain that it is for fairies. I seriously do not want to give this birdhouse to my mom. I want to keep it! Its a surprise for when we go to visit. She doesn't read my blog so I'm not giving anything away!

Another cool project we did recently was making bubble prints. I saw this idea a long time ago but was afraid Rosemary would drink the bubble/paint mix. I saw it again on a few blogs recently and decided she was easy. It was really cool! We mixed tempera paint and bubble solution in a pie tin, used straws to blow it up, then placed paper on top to get these really cool designs!

We also bought shaped sponges and did some sponge painting, but we aren't quite finished with those. But check out the cute hand prints- mine and Rosemarys- and footprint- Xanders! I love it! I also think my refrigerator is officially out of room!

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Overheard at the lunch table

2011-06-15T10:27:00.001-07:00

Mommy: [sings Merrily We Roll Along]
Rosemary: where's the igloo sea?
Mommy: Not "igloo sea", "deep, blue sea."
Rosemary: Oh. [contemplative pause] Is that where she rows?
Mommy: Where who rows?
Rosemary: Mary.

Hahaha!!!! That was my cutest conversation of the day.

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Long overdue update (And Easter, part two)

2011-06-12T10:57:00.001-07:00

When the kids woke up on Easter Sunday, sure enough, the Easter Bunny had come for a visit! Here are their baskets loaded with goodies. They each got one toy, one book, and a few assorted goodies (Xander got his first container of Puffs and Rosemary got some healthy snacks and some candy). Their Easter outfits were made by my mom!

After church we headed to Coachman Park in Clearwater for a huge Easter egg hunt! I tried so hard to get a picture of the kids in their matching outfits. You can see how that turned out.

And my favorite:

After the Easter egg hunt, which was awesome and included pony rides, train rides, and other goodies, we headed back to the house and had an awesome dinner of cornish game hens.

Shortly after Easter, Joe went out of town so my mom came and stayed with me for the week. We shopped, we lunched, and we beached. The beach was a ton of fun!

This is my favorite picture of the two kids from their first beach day with mommy and grandma. Xander LOVED the sand!

Rosemary loved the shells!

She also loved dinner at BDs! Everyone who walked by commented on her particular tidiness eating spaghetti. I'm sure the chopsticks she tried eating them with (before resorting to just using her fingers) helped the situation.

We've also had a few weekend getaways in the past month or so. When Joe got back in town, we packed the car and headed to Orlando, grandma in tow. This gave us the opportunity to have an actual date night! Our good friends, and Xander's godparents, Steve and Priya, were in town for Priya's birthday celebration so we met up with them at Jelly Rolls, a dueling piano bar, for a really fun and much needed date night! We don't get those very often (and thank you mom SO much for letting us have one!) so it was a treat to get dressed up and go out with adults!

While in Orlando we also got to meet Ryan and Carrie's new baby, but I didn't get pictures of them :( We'll have to get together again soon so I can get some good photos!

A couple weeks later, Joe had a 4-day weekend so we spent one night in Venice where Joe had signed up for a flying trapeze class. IT WAS AWESOME!!!!!!!! Here's my too cool for school husband beginning his flight through the air. He did so good! I definitely want to do it now! It's my goal now to get back in shape. I can't wait to do it!

While in Venice we decided we may as well check out what there is to do. We headed downtown and browsed their Saturday Farmer's Market, and stopped by the fountain where there were two birthday parties going on. Rosemary got in on the action and learned how to shoot a water gun. Not just any water gun, but several different water guns. And they kept getting bigger.

Venice was beautiful. We want to go back to check out the beaches and spend more time.

That same weekend we ended up buying a van! We've been talking about it for a while and when we found this deal we couldn't pass it up! I LOVE it!

We ended the four-day weekend with our first sunset picnic. It was LOVELY. We went to Sunset Beach, near Treasure Island, with a picnic and watched the sun set over the water. It was the perfect ending to a wonderful long weekend.

In other news, Rosemary just finished her second gymnastics session. She made humongous improvements this time! I think seeing her dad on the flying trapeze helped a lot and made her more willing to try new things. I promised her if she did well this session, she could pick out a Barbie.

And of course, she chose a Fairytale Princess Barbie! She deserved it! She worked so hard and did so well!

We enjoyed our sunset picnic so much that we decided to do it again!

I love this picture of Joe and Xander as the sun is setting.

Here's one of me with my kiddos before the sun set. See that house in the background? It's my dream home. It will be mine one day. Oh, yes, it will be mine.

Here's another one of my boys.

I hope everyone is enjoying the start of summer as much as we are!

Xander is 8 months old!!!

2011-05-24T13:36:00.000-07:00

I don't have any pictures to go along with this, but I just thought I'd do a quick update since it's been a while. Xander turned 8 months old yesterday! I really can't believe how fast he is growing up. I felt like it took forever for Rosemary to get through the first year but I feel like I blinked and he is already 3/4 of the way there. He is the sweetest baby boy in the world. I can't even believe it! Here are some of the highlights:

- He sleeps up to 12 hours at night, but has lately been waking up twice a night.
- His first two teeth are popping through. It's taken a while and the past couple days have been miserable. He has a runny nose, coughing, runny eyes, and sneezing. Rosemary had the same thing when she was teething, except for the coughing. It almost seems like he's gagging. It's very sad. I hope the teeth finish coming through and give him a break soon! And give me a break!
- He will take a 2 hour morning nap if we are home. If we are not home, he'll usually catnap in the morning and sometimes take a nap later in the day.
- He's starting to pull onto all fours to crawl, but he usually has one leg that gets stuck under him.
- He likes to stand. He won't pull himself up yet, but if I try putting him in front of a big toy, he'll grab on and stand holding it instead of sitting down and playing with it.
- He LOVES to eat. He's already eating three meals a day. At first I felt guilty because I'm not making his food like I did for Rosemary. But I'm over that! It's SO much easier buying baby food and there are so many more choices available now than there were even just 3 years ago! He eats oatmeal or rice cereal plus a fruit for breakfast, a veggie for lunch, and something like ham and pineapple or chicken and rice for dinner. It is SO much easier buying it! Thanks Gerber and Earth's Best and Beech Nut!
- He loves his big sister and she loves him! I love watching them play together. And it gives me a little time to clean (or waste time on the computer).

Easter part one

2011-04-23T15:21:00.001-07:00

The most recent holiday tradition in our family is for me to host Easter. Sticking with my New Year's resolution of making our family more active, I signed us all up for our first annual 5K! Joe and my dad ran the 5K while the rest of us walked the 1 mile. Next year I think I'm going to attempt the 5K. I can do it!

The little ones pretty much hung out in the stroller the whole time, but did a really good job!

After the 5K, us ladies went to a local nail salon and got our nails done. This was Rosemary's first manicure! Spoiled little girl. I think I was 18 before I had my first professional manicure! She was so cute. She did so well while the lady painted her fingers. My little princess!

While the grandma's got their feet done, Rosemary and I headed to Target for my favorite mommy-daughter date: Starbucks!

Later that evening, we headed back to the house and settled in for dinner and to rest up for the next day's festivities! (To come in a future post)

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Finger paint or carrots?

2011-04-15T14:13:00.001-07:00

You know mommy is going nuts when I just give up and let him feed himself carrots. At least it entertained him for a few minutes.

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Mermaid hunt

2011-04-14T11:58:00.001-07:00

One of my favorite things to do on beautiful days is get lost in Pinellas County until I find one of their gorgeous waterfront parks. Today we found our way to H.S. Pop Stansell Memorial Park.

From the parking area I noticed a little area that looked like a dock, so we walked around some vegetation and found a kayaker's nirvana. I am definitely taking my parents here if they ever bring their kayaks. The water was still and gorgeous. My new favorite activity with Rosemary is looking for mermaids whenever we see water. We saw lots of fish jumping and a heron fishing, but the only mermaid was this cutie I brought with me. Maybe next time!

See? Beautiful.

Walking down the boardwalk. Strutting her stuff.

I had to get a pic in front of this little sandbar. It was just such a nice day out that I wanted to stay near the salty fresh air for as long as possible. She just wanted to go to the playground. So I procrastinated by taking a lot of pictures.

We made our way to the playground and had a little snack.

On the way to the bathrooms, Rosemary noticed this eyeball on a tree. I wanted to take her picture near it, but it scared her and she wouldn't get near it!

Even the graffiti in the bathrooms is polite here.

Rosemary tried and tried to get up on this weird seat by herself.

She finally figured it out, but it took a lot out of her!

I LOVE the parks in Pinellas county where the swings overlook the water. Beeee-yoooo-tiful!

I got both my kiddos swinging for a while! I would alternate playing "tickly, tickly toes" with Xander and singing "Love Grows Where My Rosemary Goes" to Romy. It's a good thing there was no else at this park, I was sort of putting on a show. I was singing pretty loud with Rosemary trying to sing with me. And I don't have a pretty singing voice ;) I sang the entire song about 12 times.

After the park, we went home and Rosemary helped me make pigs in a blanket and special celery treats for lunch. Earlier this week we did our grocery shopping and I let her pick out one fruit and one veggie- in the hopes of getting her to try something new. She chose watermelon and celery so every day this week I've tried preparing them differently. Today we had celery stuffed with cream cheese, with another piece of celery sticking out and then cut into what are supposed to be flower shapes. My mom tried explaining it to me over the phone, and mine looked nothing like flowers so I think next time they're in town she's going to have to show me how to do it! And I cubed the watermelon and ate it with a fork, which was novel because we usually eat it sliced. Either way, it's getting her to eat her veggies (fruit has never been a problem).

p.s. For those of you interested- the sticker chart is ah-mazing. It's been like a godsend. We've gone from- no exaggeration- at least a dozen full-blown meltdowns a day (usually there are 3 before breakfast) to one in the past three days (I called the pediatrician who was NO help and I've been working with a childhood specialist since birth doing evaluations on the kids and they had no answers. Was it too hard to tell me "sticker chart"?). At one point I even saw her get mad, take a deep breath, walk into Xander's room, put her head down on the bed, them come back into the room and talk to me. I have a different child. We moved on from the tree (she had to earn her way to a big star for the top) to a more traditional print-out sticker chart with about 20 boxes that she has to fill with stickers before getting something from the "goodie box"- a box we filled with things from the Target $1 section. It was fun picking the things out for the box! We made a special trip to Target for stickers and goodies for her box. I'll post an update when she gets her first goodie!

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My latest attempt at positive parenting

2011-04-11T09:06:00.001-07:00

I have been making a lot of difficult, and quite drastic changes in our household. Things haven't been running as smoothly as I would like. We finally have Xander sleeping in his own crib, waking up usually only once to eat, and one night sleeping 10 hours straight without waking up. This was essential as we are all getting over a nasty flu-bug that invaded this house over the past couple weeks and a good night of interrupted sleep- my first in about 15 months, since I first got pregnant with x- really helped me through the worst of it. As for Rosemarys frequent meltdowns, I have several changes in place. One is this new sticker tree I made for her. So far I've had 2 hours without a meltdown, which, sadly, is the longest we've gone in a while. Let's hope this helps for a while.

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Nasty weather

2011-03-31T10:43:00.000-07:00

Perfect for laying in bed and watching old movies with my kiddos.

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Xander 6 month update

2011-03-28T18:15:00.001-07:00

Xander had his 6 month check up today and I'm happy to say he checked out well! My little guy looks to us like he has grown a ton over the past month, but he's still trucking along around the 25-30th percentiles, except for his head which is a whopping 70th percentile! He is 26 inches long and 16.2 pounds! And what a sweetie- he didn't even cry during the vaccines! I have never seen anything like it. He started to whimper a bit, but then had the yummy oral vaccine and was perfectly happy. He ended up sleeping for long enough for me and grandma (my parents are in town visiting after our Disney weekend, which I will post about when Joe gets his pics up) to head over to the mall where I got my first haircut since getting pregnant with Xander! I added in some long layers so it'll grow out nicely. He's pretty cranky tonight, though, which was to be expected. Poor little guy has some teeth that the pediatrician said should pop out within the next couple weeks and his little legs are tender from the shots so he has plenty to fuss about. I hope he's feeling better tomorrow!

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I'm sitting here, I'm 6 months old...

2011-03-23T20:12:00.001-07:00

My little boy is already six months old! I can't believe an entire half a year has gone by. He is definitely showing signs of a personality and meeting more and more milestones. Here are some of my favorite things about my little guy right now:

- He LOVES to smile! He looks so serious when he's not smiling and then BAM! his whole face lights up. You should see him when his daddy gets home! He loves me lots, but he is definitely a daddy's boy. Joe came home late tonight and he was craning his little head to see his daddy when he heard his voice. It is so sweet! I know it makes Joe feel good after a long day!

- He is sitting up all on his own. He's getting so strong. He's also mastering the art of gripping things. He looks like a little drunk. It's so funny. He'll pass things from one hand to the other and focus so intently on it. I'm seeing the little lights go off in his brain when he learns something new for the first time.

- He's really into books. He loves listening in when I'm reading to Rosemary and tries to pick the pictures off the pages. Right now he seems to be really liking a plush, fabric book we have about farm animals. He laughs when I make the animal noises. It was one of Rosemary's favorite books at that age, too.

- Everything goes into his mouth. I have to be really careful what toys Rosemary plays with around him because she has lots of little pieces and parts.

- He loves his big sister. She is so good with him and he loves her so much. He gives her the funniest looks when she's being silly, sort of like "What are you doing, big sister?" and then he'll start giggling. They take baths together now, which is awesome. I put him in his bumbo seat in the tub and then they entertain each other. He loves Rosemary's Boots toy from Dora and will chew on it during most of the bath.

- He loves being tickled!

- He's happy in our little blue swing on our swingset. It makes it so much easier to play with Rosemary outside. I wrap a towel around him for extra padding and just push him enough so the swing sways a little and then I can give her more attention, which is very important right now!

- He still loves the parachute at our Baby and Me class. He's also really starting to love watching the bubbles and will crane his neck to look at them and he's just started reaching out to them.

- He's spending more time out of my arms. Whereas he used to be in my arms about 20 hours a day, he'll now be happy playing in the exersaucer while I drink my morning coffee (probably the best thing to happen since he's been born!), or in the swing outside, or in the pack n play, and most thankfully, he'll now ride in the stroller during our walks. He's getting big and it was starting to become a little inconvenient carrying him in the baby bjorn for our neighborhood walks. I still carry him most of the time when we're out of the house, but it's so nice that I can now put him down for little bits of time and he'll entertain himself. He is way more into his rattles and toys than Rosemary was, so it's usually pretty easy to distract him and keep him entertained. I even have people come up and tell me what an easy-going and sweet baby he is. I just smile and say "thank you" all the while thinking, "you should have seen him a couple months ago!"

- He's eaten rice cereal, pears, sweet potatoes, and peas.

We have his 6 month appointment next week (after a trip to Disney this weekend with my parents) so I'll update with height and weight once I find out!

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Rosemarys first haircut

2011-03-20T18:26:00.001-07:00

It was time. Her hair is always in her face and falls down shortly after I put it up. We took her to a kids place where she was able to sit in a car and she was sprinkled with glitter afterwards! I love the bangs. I was worried she'd look too grown up, but I think she still looks like a little girl. It was fun for all of us. I couldn't stop looking at her today because she just looks so darn cute!

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Plant a Flower Day

2011-03-19T18:36:00.000-07:00

So I didn't take any pictures, but my friend Rochel did, and she's a super photographer so they are actually good (unlike my phone pics)! And she blogged it! Thanks Rochel for the great pics! Our sunflowers are already starting to grow!!!

http://rochelsblog.blogspot.com/2011/03/plant-flower-day.html

Happy St. Patty's Day!

2011-03-17T19:13:00.001-07:00

Earlier this week I had a Plant a Flower playdate, but didn't get any pictures. :( I did it a couple years ago, but was so sick last year and had some scheduling difficulties so I can't call it an annual event, but I am going to try and make it an annual thing from this point on.

Today I packed a picnic and headed to a local park that is on the water for a picnic and play with my kiddos. After a picnic and playing on the castle themed playground, we walked down the pier to look for mermaids. We didn't spot any, but we did see a bunch of bees hard at work in some clover patches which was a really cool teachable moment. I've been telling Rosemary about how bees make honey- she's really into bees right now so it was really cool to show her how they fly from flower to flower. As we were leaving Rosemary stopped to blow a wish on a dandelion. It was a gorgeous day out! I love spring! I wish it lasted all year!

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Xander loves his monkey!

2011-03-17T12:02:00.001-07:00

This is the first time he has ever recognized something by name! I'm not sure if it was a fluke or on purpose, but as soon as I was done recording he put the monkey down and went back to the ring! You can tell I was excited!

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Future Baseball Star!

2011-03-16T09:54:00.001-07:00

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Future Jewel

2011-03-15T15:30:00.001-07:00

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Xander meets his godparents

2011-03-14T06:39:00.001-07:00

We had our good friends Priya and Steve down for a visit this weekend. They are also Xanders godparents, or will be as soon as we join the church we are going to baptise him in. He is getting so big! It is always nice to be with Priya, but I hate when she leaves! We have promised to not let so much time go by before our next visit.

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This was a good idea...

2011-03-11T16:01:00.001-08:00

Until Rosemary pulled up her shirt and said she needed to feed him chocolate milk (she's convinced that's what I feed him from my "bobs".)

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Hand sanitizer princess

2011-03-07T15:26:00.001-08:00

I picked up some candles at Target today. On the way home I noticed my car smelled yummy. Thinking it was the candles, I was glad I bought them and felt better about that little impulse buy. Then I go to get Rosemary out of her car seat and she had a big smile on her face and says "mommy, smell my hair!" I touch it and it is soaking wet and smells like Bath and Body Works Sweet Pea. She had emptied almost an entire bottle of hand sanitizer on her head. When she saw my reaction, she started to cry and told me she just wanted pretty hair. It took a while to convince her that I wasn't mad, but that she should not do that. When daddy got home and I told him the story, she told him she wanted to be the hand sanitizer princess. at least my car smells good.

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I should be sleeping...

2011-03-01T20:17:00.001-08:00

But I can't stop thinking about quickly Rosemary is becoming a little lady. I am so thankful we gave her a sibling, but I miss the time we had, just the two of us. Lately I can tell she's experiencing a bit of siblingitis. I hope she always knows how much I love her. I don't know what it is, but there is truly something melancholy about a little girl growing up.

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Silver Springs and Ponte Vedra

2011-02-27T14:54:00.001-08:00

Joe has a business trip planned and Terra decided to stay in Florida for a little longer, so I packed up the kids and headed to grandma and grandpa's house for a short weekend trip. Joe caravanned with us to Ocala where Silver Springs was hosting a special event called Kidfetti. We met the family there for the day. Here are some pictures.

First up was a glass bottom boat ride down Silver River. The boat route was staged with all the old archaeological dig stuff and it made me itch to get back into my anthropology state of mind. It was really cool to hear all about Florida's first underwater archaeology dig and hear about the history of the area. I certainly would not have survived as one of the first settlers in Florida!

There were 20-something booths set up with crafts and activities for the kids. Rosemary only wanted to go to booth #2- decorating a picture of a ducky, with glitter and stickers. After that the day got a little, well, three-year-oldy (if that makes sense), but was saved after a pretzel and big drink of lemonade.

Kidfetti is essentially a craft and music fest for kids. Here is the main stage. I rolled my eyes at the thought of spending the day listening to kid music (in my mind I was thinking of Justin Bieber and Jonas Brother wanna-bees). But then Gina Marie got on stage. She was diagnosed with Autism at age 2, didn't start talking until 3, and now at age 9 is one of the most sought-after artists in the country to sing the national anthem at events. So it was hard to not be in awe and inspired by this little lady on stage (even though it's hard to see her in this picture, she's there!). And she has such charisma, too. What a surprise!

Rosemary found this little boat ride and was so excited when two other kids joined her in it. She talked all about her "friends" after getting out!

After a few hours, we gave kisses to daddy and hopped in our cars to head to grandma and grandpa's house for a couple days. Here are the grandparents with all three grandkids.

Tomorrow I'll pack up my herd and head home. I really hate leaving. Hopefully one day my whole family will be in one place.

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Glazer, take 2

2011-02-23T11:44:00.001-08:00

We attempted the childrens museum again today. I figured it might go better now that she had a good experience there with her daddy. It was much better this time! I didn't take any pictures, but she is currently napping, so that tells you she had a good time!

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Future Gymnast

2011-02-22T17:53:00.001-08:00

We have thought long and hard about how best to transition Rosemary to preschool. We decided it would be a good idea to get her started in an activity one day a week that is fun, but also requires her listening to and following directions from, an adult other than mommy. I have taken her to playgroups, baby and me classes, and toddler classes since she was 2 months old to socialize her and expose her to different things, but she's always with me. We tried getting her in swim lessons this summer, but that didn't work out, and then Xander came and things got a little hairy around here for a few months, so it's taken some time, but we were finally able to enroll her in a gymnastics class. Her first class was today. Here she is all dressed up and ready to go! She was so excited for class!

We got there a little early so we were able to go up to the observation area and watch the class before her. She became SO excited when she saw the other kids! You can tell by the look on her face that she couldn't wait to get out there!

Here is the actual gymnasium with all the equipment they use. It's hard to tell in the picture, but the entire studio is lined with trophies. It's pretty neat to see!

When it was finally her turn, she ran onto the floor and started jumping on the equipment! Unfortunately, they start in a circle doing warm up exercises before getting onto the floor so I immediately had to redirect her. After the warm up activities (which include singing and dancing and silly stuff that she enjoyed), they broke into small groups, I think by age, and I went back up to the observation deck with Joe, who lovingly took the morning off work to watch Rosemary go to her first day of gymnastics and Xander. It ended up that she was in a group with only one other girl. One other girl that has probably been doing this since birth! She was doing cartwheels and backflips and able to do everything pretty much on her own while Rosemary struggled with doing a forward roll and wasn't really sure what was going on. She was having fun, though, until it was time for them to move to one station to another. She did NOT want to leave the trampolines. I actually had to go down to the floor and pick her up and carry her to the next station. At least I know her persistence and stubbornness are not solely directed at me since I wasn't even there! Overall, I think it's going to be a good experience for her. It will help her follow directions, give her some exercise, and get her used to listening to someone other than me. I just hope she does a better job of listening to the teacher next time!

Joan Jett and the Blackhearts

2011-02-20T19:03:00.001-08:00

Parenthood certainly has it's fun times and lately we have had our share of them! As a Christmas present, we bought Busch Gardens tickets for the whole family. They have definitely been paying off. Today we actually got to see Joan Jett live in concert! Sure, I may have been Rosemary's age when she was at her prime, but as a teenager, and still today, I became immersed in the world of good 80s music and who better represents that than Joan Jett?! Rosemary was so excited when the first song came on- Bad Reputation, a classic. Or as Rosemary recognized, "it's Shrek!" (yes, this song is featured in her current favorite movie.) I think she had more fun rolling down the hills and playing chase with me, and then a group of other kids her age, than she did watching the concert, but she certainly enjoyed it! Xander slept the whole time. Joe's parents came with us, and I think all 3 generations of us had a great time!

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Ambitions

2011-02-19T16:17:00.001-08:00

I have so many things I'd like to do, and no energy in which to do them. So I'll just leave you with some cute pictures of my kids.

I was trying to get a picture of her modeling her new FSU regalia gifted to us by another FSU alum whose own children have sadly outgrown them, but she was not all about the posing for a picture. But she LOVES this outfit!!

Doesn't he look mad? He wasn't really. He just makes this face a lot. I'm pretty sure lots of people think he's giving them an evil glare, but I think he's just a deep thinker.

He has started taking a pacifier, thankfully! It's been a big help this week. I'm sure I'll regret sticking with it when he turns a year and is still sucking away, but for now, I am SO thankful to have a way of pacifying sometimes that doesn't involve my boobs.

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Xander beats the drum

2011-02-15T14:25:00.001-08:00

Hehe. He loves the drum!

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All-American Valentines Day

2011-02-14T17:21:00.001-08:00

We thought it would be fun to take the kids to Johnny Rockets for Valentines Day for a good, old-fashioned burgers and shakes kind of date. Over dinner I realized that last year, in the throws of morning sickness, we went to Five Guys on v tines day, so we thought it made for a cute tradition. And what better way to end an All-American meal than with a Big Apple milkshake- a slice of apple pie blended with vanilla ice cream. Rosemary liked it so much she ate it with all three straws!

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Happy Valentines Day!

2011-02-14T05:07:00.001-08:00

Last night Joe took Rosemary on a very special Valentines date. The Glazier Museum hosted a Sweetheart's Dance, her very first ball. I helped get Rosemary all pretty for the dance, including shiny lip gloss, and sent them off. The night sounded magical. Rosemary even made a new friend, a little girl she danced with all night long who was also on a special daddy date. I hope Xander and I can join them next year!

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Some pictures

2011-02-13T13:42:00.001-08:00

Last year I made of goal of improving myself as a mother and made some promises to myself that have just recently started coming to fruition. I have been immersed in the world of playgroups since Rosemary was 2 months old. They have been a great support in helping me combat the loneliness of stay-at-home-momdom and I have made some great friendships. But there were some things that I have felt lacking since I started staying home. I've been trying to find some sort of spiritual support group, and this past week I found a moms circle at a church. It is a discussion group mostly based around books. I went to my first meeting on Friday and I am so hopeful that I will learn a lot from these women. The book they are currently discussing is "Building Better Families" and the questions brought up for discussion were things that I am constantly trying to improve in myself. It was very comforting to be around a group of moms of all ages and levels of experience and know that these are things so many people struggle with and work to improve in themselves. I'm hopeful that this group will help me to grow as a mother and wife and help provide some guidance where I need it most.

On that note, I'll leave you with some pictures I've taken recently with my phone.

I take pretty much any chance I get to snap a sibling photo, especially when they're both wearing their pajamas! Rosemary's favorite thing to do lately is to hold her baby (she always calls him "my baby" and sometimes I'm not so sure she doesn't believe it. She tells me she's his mommy.) I love his little pouty lip in this one!

These are the kinds of memories I want Rosemary to have of growing up. Inline skating in her princess dress and party hat.

I recently rearranged the patio furniture so there is more room out there for her to inline skate and move around and she is putting that space to good use.

We are headed to a Valentine playdate tomorrow with some of our friends and I saw this adorable idea on a website so I wanted to try it out. They used sticks of gum, but I used packs of Smarties. Rosemary has never had a Smartie before so I'm sort of dreading the rush of sugar that will come with this treat, but I thought it was a cute idea to share with her friends and was more fun than store bought Valentines! Plus, the whole thing only cost me $1 for a pack of Smarties because I had the rest of the materials at home! Rosemary helped me attach the heart-shaped "wings" to the body.

I love sleepy baby photos so I had to share this one of my sweet boy. He's growing out of all his clothes so fast! This is one of my favorite onesies of his. Our Nikki gave it to us before he was born and it's just so darn cute and perfect for my geek husband. We have so many photos of Rosemary in her favorite outfits, but not as many of this little boy so I wanted to take one before he outgrows it!

Stay tuned for a special Valentine's post tomorrow!

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First solids

2011-02-08T15:24:00.001-08:00

I think he likes it! Like the bib? (It says "Star of Mommy's Blog")

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Things

2011-02-05T17:57:00.001-08:00

He's happy now. Isn't he cute?

The other day I was cleaning Rosemary's dollhouse and couldn't find the Xander doll. I looked all over until I finally found him under her dollhouse sink. I posted it on facebook and had some cute ideas speculating as to what he was doing there. One person suggested they were playing hide and seek. Another guessed he was fixing the plumbing. And another guessed that he found a creative spot for taking a nap!

Daddy joined in last night's tea party. You can see our assortment of "tea." I had my nursing tea. Rosemary had her chamomile/crystal light tea. And daddy had his Bud Light "tea." It was that kind of day.

And finally, today we went to a sweet little boy's second birthday party. Here is Xander modeling the cute birthday hats! I love this picture!

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Test

2011-02-05T17:55:00.001-08:00

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Preschool

2011-02-03T14:53:00.001-08:00

I enrolled Rosemary in preschool today. In 6 months my little girl will have her first day of school. Where did the time go?

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Over the river and through the woods...

2011-01-31T18:49:00.001-08:00

Last week I packed up the kids and spent a few days at grandma and grandpa's house. Aunt Terra and Malachite are visiting for the winter and I wanted to spend some time with my sister and have Rosemary spend some time with her cousin before they leave.

First up on the agenda... shopping. I already showed you my new bag, but I wasn't the only one who got new, pretty things that day! Rosemary got some new "dancing" boots! Her Lola wanted to get her some boots last time they were in town but we couldn't find any she liked. As soon as she saw these, she had her mind set and that was it. But do NOT call them cowgirl boots. They are dancing boots. Rosemary will make sure you understand that! Grandma then treated her to a new dress. I wish this picture was better because the boots and dress are so adorable!

During our down time, Aunt Terra took a few minutes to read a story to the kiddos. Rosemary loved playing with Malachite!

She also loves holding Xander. She doesn't, however, like sitting still for pictures. This was my attempt at getting a good brother/sister shot:

sit still Rosemary

got something in your teeth?

get your finger out of your mouth

almost there!

I may not have gotten the perfect sibling shot, but I did get a new book! I actually checked this out from the library when we were going through the terrible twos. Now we're in the throws of the defiant threes and I decided to just go ahead and buy it. It's like a friend in my pocket. At least I know I don't have the only "spirited" kid since there is actually a book about it.

I didn't get any pictures, but Saturday night was so nice. We just sat around the house and let the kids play. It was so nice having my family around and Malachite for Rosemary to play with. We usually get together during the holidays so there isn't much down time. It was really nice to have an evening to just sit back with my family and let the cousins get to know each other. I can't wait until Xander is old enough to join in the fun. We read stories and played in grandma and grandpa's bedroom, which was all fun and games until I made the mistake of getting into grandma's hand creams. I have always loved the smell of my mom's hand creams and lotions that she keeps by her bed, so I tried some on and of course Rosemary wanted to try them out, too. The difference is that I know when to stop. So before a natural, or not so natural, disaster started, I had to usher the kids out of the bedroom and away from the hand creams. All in all, it was a nice visit. It just made me even more sad that we don't live near my family. It would be so nice to be around them more often.

On another note, last night I went grocery shopping and left Joe in charge of the kiddos. This is what I saw when I came home. All three of them fell asleep in the recliner! I love him. He's such a good daddy.

On another note, I think we picked a preschool.

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Isn't she lovely?

2011-01-29T20:48:00.001-08:00

We are all having a great time at grandma and grandpa's house. I was able to get this picture of my mom and Xander. I think she looks beautiful. I wish he would have looked up!

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Love at first sight

2011-01-28T07:52:00.001-08:00

I am 31 and have never bought myself a nice handbag. It was time.

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Polite Tea Party at Grandma's

2011-01-27T20:17:00.001-08:00

I'm not sure why, but Rosemary calls our pre-bedtime tea party "polite tea." It's so cute. Tonight I had mothers milk tea while she had "polite warm milk tea" (really just a cup of warm milk.) She liked her tea so much that she had 3 cups! Now I know how to trick her into drinking her milk!

On another note, I made the drive to my parents house today to spend a few days with my sister and Malachite before they leave to go back to West Virginia. Actually, my parents met me halfway and we had lunch in Ocala, then my mom rode with meet the rest of the way to their house. It's a long drive and Xander hates the car, so it ended up being 5 hours (including the stop for lunch), at least 4 of which consisted of Xander screaming, and about thirty minutes of Rosemary getting fed up at telling him to stop it. So it was really nice to have my mom keep me company on the second half of the trip.

On yet another note, Xander's reflux, which hasn't been so bad lately, was horrible tonight. He was screaming in pain off and on for a couple hours. Poor little man. I haven't heard him this upset, and seen this much spit up, in a few weeks. Hopefully its just a bad night and not a new cycle of reflux.

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Preschool jitters

2011-01-25T18:53:00.000-08:00

Someone please tell me that my choice of preschool is not going to completely determine my child's educational future. I am researching this as though I'm applying to college. I'm so overwhelmed! I went from wanting her to go to the one closest to us to going to THE BEST and nothing less than the best. I have plans to visit 5 at this point. At this stage, I think I've already rationalized selling both vehicles and taking out a loan for preschool. I am seriously freaking out here. I had no idea registration started NEXT WEEK for some of them! We just started looking into it and I feel like I have to decide NOW. I'm checking out a mix of daycare/preschools and private/religious ones. I hope we find the perfect one but this is so difficult! My mom didn't have to make this choice! They just sent me to the closest one and it was great! As a teacher, I am VERY particular about what I want. I want a good balance of academic and discipline. Not strict to the point of instilling fear in the child, but I want a teacher who will demand and teach respect while remaining gentle enough to understand the sensitive nature of a child. I want her to come out of preschool prepared for the intense demands of kindergarten today but also still overflowing with innocence. I hope I can find what I want! I can find lots of daycare preschools, but I haven't been able to find a list of "preschools" that are not part of a daycare, so the only ones I have found have been through word of mouth. I hope I'm finding the right one somewhere!

Is it only Tuesday?

2011-01-25T11:14:00.001-08:00

I'm 0 for 3 in trying to find something active and fun to entertain Rosemary with this week. Yesterday I took her to the new childrens museum. We've been to similar places and she always enjoys them so I went ahead and bought an annual pass. Big waste of money there. The only thing she enjoyed was walking up the spiral staircase that led from one floor to another. After going from one exhibit to another and getting the same reaction-a very blase "eh" as though she is too good for it, I decided to take her out and have a picnic. Sunshine and fresh air on a beautiful day should perk her up, right? Well, you can see by the picture that she loved that a whole bunch. Actually, that probably was the highlight of the day. Because after lunch we walked down to the waterfront playground. What child doesn't like a playground? Um, that would be mine. As soon as she saw that there were no swings she threw herself on the astroturf, if that's what it was, and refused to get up. First I want to paint an accurate picture of this scenario. Xander, who was being a little angel all day, was happily chilling out in the baby bjorn. I was also carrying a 50 pound double diaper bag (this might be a slight exaggeration, but I know it weighs more than Xander who had his 4 month checkup today and is 14 lb, 6 oz). So now I had to pick up my 34 pound, tantrum throwing, three year old and walk from the waterfront to the fourth floor of the parking garage through downtown Tampa. That was fun. NOT. Then today I wanted to get out and do something fun so went to Mc D's for lunch. The one by us has a really nice indoor play place and since it was supposed to rain all day, which it hasn't, I wanted something inside. So we get our food, enjoy a nice lunch, and then I tell her that we can play now. That resulted in her sitting next to me and pouting.
After a couple failed attempts at encouraging her to go play, I finally once again had to pick her up and carry her out of there. Apparently my child thinks she's too good for a state of the art, brand new childrens museum, a playground, and McD's playplace.

So we get home and I am so frustrated that I just explode. I not so nicely express my frustration that my child doesn't know how to play like a child and ask her what she does want to do. Her response? Watch a movie. I remember back when she was about 6 months old when I vowed that my child was not going to be a couch potato. I'm not sure what happened to that vow. So now we are watching tv, playing dressup, and brushing a My Little Pony. But at least neither of us are screaming or crying. And at least she's not just staring at the tv. I would like her to run around and get some exercise, but I guess this will have to do for now.

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Four months

2011-01-23T17:06:00.000-08:00

Today is Xander's four month birthday. That means he is officially no longer a newborn. That means he no longer has that floppy head that needs to be constantly supported. That also means, and as I type this I hear angels singing and trumpets playing, that he has finally grown out of the colic!!!!!! I don't care what you want to call it- colic, reflux, or fussy baby, he has finally outgrown it! ALLELUIA!!!!!! ALLELUIA!!!! WOOOO HOOOOO!!!!!!!! YES!!!!!!!!!!! Party time! Excellent! (My ode to Wayne's World). The past few weeks have been wonderful. I have a happy, smiley, giggly little boy. Here is a list of his favorite things:

- Mommy. I think I'm his favorite thing in the whole world. And I love it!

- Boobs. He won't take a bottle like Rosemary did so he loves my boobs. Rosemary calls them "bobs" and has been known to try feeding Max (the doll that Xander gave Rosemary when he was born) with her little boppy and my nursing cover. I think it's cute.

- The stuffed elephant that Rosemary gave him when he was born. He just recently took an interest in this toy. You pull its tail and it plays music. He likes to suck on the trunk.

- The star toy from Aunt Terra. It's this little start that has different sensory toys at each point. Some crinkle when you play with it, some are silky, one of them has a little squeaker inside. He loves it!

- Baby and Me class. He really loves laying under the parachute and playing peekaboo. He gets all giggly when the parachute goes up and he gets a big burst of air!

- His baby carriers. Just like Rosemary, he loves being carried. I have a Baby Bjorn, a Maya Wrap, and an Infantino Wrap and Tie and he loves them all. He also loves my arms.

- Bathtime. He loves taking baths. Either sponge baths or tub baths, he loves them. Sometimes if he's fussy, I just take him in the bathroom and he gets a big smile!

I love my happy little boy.

This video is from when Xander was about a couple weeks old. He was just learning how to hold his head up.

And here he is just a couple weeks ago testing out his exersaucer for the first time. I was holding my phone the wrong way and can't figure out how to flip it, so turn your head. lol. He was not impressed with the bird or lizard!

My Little Pony

2011-01-22T13:17:00.001-08:00

If there is one thing Romy loves almost as much as princesses, it's horses. So when I found out her friend Gavin's birthday party this year was going to be at Hire-a-pony, I knew she would be thrilled! This was her third or fourth time riding the pony Alabama. While she was disappointed that she did not get to ride Phillipe (Belles horse from beauty and the beast for those of you not immersed in the world of Disney princesses), I think she still enjoyed it. I also think riding lessons are going to be in her future. After riding Alabama, we played around on the swingset, met some of the animals, saw newborn baby goats (aren't they precious?!), and of course ate our yummy cupcakes! Thank you Gavin for letting us share your special day! I can't believe you and Rosemary are three!!!

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Playdate

2011-01-21T19:51:00.001-08:00

After a week spent mostly at home, it was obvious that the kids, and me, were ready for some playtime. Thankfully, we had a playdate scheduled today. Rosemary got to spend some time chilling with her buddies Kaeden and Eva (and Eli and Lukas who unfortunately didn't make it into the picture) and Xander even got to hang out a bit with his pal Leah, born just a couple weeks after him. While he was mesmerized by the toys above him, I couldn't help but notice Leah giving him the most amazing, huge grin. She is a doll! Rochel, you have your hands full when she becomes a teenager! She's a charmer!

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I had an epiphany today...

2011-01-20T18:47:00.001-08:00

I'm tired of the meal-time struggle. We bribe with dessert, we play airplane with the food, we beg, and yes, we cry, trying to get the child to eat. After a particularly rough morning, I knew I wasn't in the mood for a fight, so I thought, "why don't I just make this fun?" So every time she took a bite, I'd take a glass bead out of our table centerpiece (thanks again to Michelle for another memento from her wedding that has become a favorite of Rosemary!) Each time I took one out, I'd place it strategically and she would guess what shape I was making. Here she is playing around with the beads after finishing her lunch.

[I just removed this picture. My little girl likes to go around topless when she's not wearing her princess dresses and I don't have any privacy settings on this blog.]

Here is the glass vase.

We made a glass bead Rosemary:

We made a flower:

We made other shapes, but you get the idea. It was fun! And it made our pretty centerpiece into a functional educational learning manipulative.

After lunch, Rosemary decided she wanted to be a mermaid princess, complete with the tiara and high heel shoes. Last week this tiara/veil broke. Mommy came to the rescue and hot glued it back together. I was a superstar that day...

My new favorite mommy/daughter bonding activity is our before bed tea party. I made a pot of chamomile tea and mix in a little bit of Crystal Light (she doesn't like the taste of chamomile, but I like the calming effects of the tea so this way we both get what we want, and it cools the tea off enough so it doesn't burn our mouths. It's actually really good!) We sit at the table and drink it out of her little tea cups. Tonight we shared a cupcake and some Nilla Wafers along with our tea. This is something I want to continue doing and make a little tradition out of. It's a really nice way to unwind at the end of the day after daddy gets home. Xander will not let me put him down. Ever. If I have to go to the bathroom I either have to wear him in one of my baby wraps or put him down and listen to the howling protest. He may have given us a scare with his little lungs in the beginning, but I assure you, there is nothing wrong with those babies! So when Joe gets home and I can (try) to let him have some father/son bonding time (even though it is usually mommy he wants right now), it's nice to have some time to focus just on Rosemary. Most days I just want to run and hide and take a break, but having those few moments to just focus on Rosemary doing something as simple as having a tea party is my new favorite part of the day. And I think we both need it. I can see us doing this for years to come. I love my little princess.

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The Secret

2011-01-19T18:37:00.000-08:00

I've heard amazing things about The Secret. I've watched the movie, and I've browsed the book. It's basically the power of positive thinking. According to the principles in the book, you make known to the universe what it is you want, and the universe will bring it to you. If you imagine it. A lot. And believe in it. Unconditionally. I'll admit, I'm very skeptical. But I think I'm ready to go from skeptical to hopeful. I am going to release into the universe my most intimate desires.

- A castle in France.

This one will do.

- A beautiful garden.

No bugs, no weeds, just beautiful flowers.

- Sleep

Silent, uninterrupted, peaceful sleep. About 10 hours worth. At one time.

- A happy family.

I found this picture while searching flickr for "happy family." I love it. I want happy kids. I want to be a happy mommy. To me this picture symbolizes a family collaborating to make something beautiful.

- Time.

I want more time to exercise. Time to bake. Time to make a phone call. Time to catch up with old friends. Time to breath. More time to enjoy my children.

- A clean, organized house.

I just thought this was a cute picture. And the baby looks happy so it goes back to my wish for happy kids.

So, universe, give me these things, please? It's not much. Well, the castle might be a bit much, but a girl can dream, right?

You spin me right round baby, right round...

2011-01-18T06:54:00.001-08:00

She couldn't do this with our old sofas. We are loving this extra space!

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Is this a hormonal thing?

2011-01-17T15:16:00.001-08:00

That's what my sister said when I told her we were getting white sofas. I love them.

Added later: I wish I could get all fancy and add beautiful, artistic photos like all the lovely home decorating and mommy blogs I stalk, but alas, we're currently technologically impaired so my G4 photos from my beloved phone will have to suffice. I've been wanting to replace our red sofas since we moved into this house. I loved them as though they were my children, but then I actually had my own children, and bought a house and quickly realized they just didn't fit in our tiny little abode. If I was all fancy, I would post photos of our living room from the townhouse we rented before moving here where they looked all suave and contemporary and luxurious. But I'm not fancy, so I'll try to describe for you the reason for replacing these sofas. Small house. Two kids. No space for running around, floor puzzles, in-door games of tag, wii, etc. We needed the space. Plus, the contemporary look of the sofas just didn't work in this house and the lighting in here is so bad that the red color made it feel even darker, and therefore smaller. As I said, I loved those red sofas (actually one sofa and one lounge). We bought them before we even got married. They were our first big purchase and the only piece of furniture we've ever financed. I remember picking them out in the store. We had just moved into Oak Hill Apartments and had absolutely no furniture except a bed. So we were sitting on our living room floor until we found the time to go to the store and buy them. I slept on the couch almost every night during my pregnancy with Xander. It was much more comfortable than the bed and kept me propped up on my side more easily than pillows. But the time has come for them to be replaced. I've been eyeing the white, slipcovered Ektorp sofa since Ikea first opened here a couple years ago. But surely, I'd be insane to buy white sofas with two children. But still, I yearned for them. I longed for them. I dreamed of my cute little home all decor'd up (a phrase I coined) in a beachy, cottagey style ala Pottery Barn or Coastal Living Magazine. But with little children who like to paint, and eat, and not to mention potty training, I'd be insane to buy any white furniture! Right? And then I found this blog (I haven't asked permission to link her, but no one reads this except people I know, at least, I think no one reads this that I don't know about- make yourself known if you are there!). I felt as though reading that gave me permission to fulfill my dream of owning this white sofa (and the matching chair and storage ottoman). When we went to Ikea to make the purchase, I saw a coffee table book of beautiful "lived in" homes. The first home featured the white Ektorp sofa in a house full of little children. It's like we're joining a cult. The cult of white, slipcovered sofa owners with small children! I love my sofas. Are they going to get dirty? Of course. That's why I purchased an extra set of slipcovers. They get too bad? They go in the wash. And look at how spacious my living room looks! See where the area rug is in relation to the sofa- about a foot away? That's how much wider our red couch was. It's like we added a foot of space to our entire living room! A foot of space that will be greatly needed when X starts walking and I have two mobile children who do not have a play room in addition to our living room and therefore need that space for toys and games and, well, living. Oh, and next time mommy has a wii party I won't need to move my furniture around to play!

On another note, know anyone who needs a sofa, lounge, or coffee table? Direct them to our craigslist ads: http://tampa.craigslist.org/hil/fuo/2140330976.html
http://tampa.craigslist.org/hil/fuo/2163236031.html
And be sure to tell them the pictures do not do them justice. Again, we are currently technology impaired and posting photos from our phones.

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To this...

2011-01-13T10:38:00.001-08:00

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Somehow my day went from this...

2011-01-13T10:37:00.001-08:00

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How time flies...

2011-01-12T11:13:00.001-08:00

It wasn't too long ago that Romy and I were sitting in Chick-fil-A with her "bottle-noise dolphin/humpback whale" (she used those two terms interchangeably to refer to a giant purple killer what that Joe won for her at Sea World) and a lady who worked there asked Rosemary if her whale wanted a chicken nugget. Romy looked at her completely seriously with her deadpan face and said "it's not real." At the time I could only laugh, but I soon realized that she took everything seriously and had no concept of make-believe. Thinking how sad it was that she didn't know how to make her dolls have a tea party or pretend that she was a princess trapped in a castle waiting for Prince Charming to come rescue her, I simply said to her one day, after she told me that her Little Mermaid doll wasn't real and therefore wasn't hurt when she was flung across the room by an angry toddler, that we can pretend that she is real. Apparently she was just waiting to be told that it's okay to play make-believe because right after I told her that, she told me that she was baby Ariel and I was mommy Ariel and daddy was Prince Eric. This particular charade went on for at least a week. I fed baby Ariel dinner. We waited for Prince Eric to get home from work. Baby Ariel had to keep her tail clean at bath time. We eventually moved on to the other princesses, each capturing her imagination in the same fascinating way. Currently, we' ve been playing lots of Shrek. I'm Princess Fiona, Rosemary is baby Shrek, and daddy is the dragon. When I took this picture today, Rosemary told me the beads were from the Crystal Kingdom (a reference to a book we have about Dora the Explorer). She begins every meal we eat together by saying "Thank you for coming to my princess tea party" and will not let me eat until "all the guests have arrived" after which we must then all take the first bite at the same time. I find it shocking that it was less than a year ago that her idea of playing with her princess dolls was to line them up and count them. Now those same dolls spend their time running away from dragons and pondering which dress they are going to wear today. I was once sure that my daughter was going to take after her father and become an accountant. But now I can only imagine that she is going to be on stage accepting her Oscar for best actress for her portrayal of Sleeping Beauty. And to think I used to worry that she had no imagination. I guess she just needed a little encouragement.

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The conversation went something like this...

2011-01-11T16:01:00.001-08:00

Rosemary (after not finishing her dinner, therefore not getting to watch her"movies", what she calls her tv shows): I want to watch a movie!

Mommy: Then finish your dinner.

R: NO!

M: Ok, then we can play a game.

R: I don't like games, only movies. I don't like anything but movies!

M: That's so sad. You don't like the playground?

R: NO!

M: You don't like your dollhouse?

R: NO! Only movies!

M: Then we should give your dollhouse to one of your friends who will like it.

R (pause): Well, maybe I will play with my dollhouse.

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I'm in love

2011-01-08T08:13:00.001-08:00

I just went into Rosemary's room to tell Joe I'm going to take a shower and for him to keep his ear open in case Xander wakes up. This is what I saw. The two of them were dancing around her bedroom to music playing from her music box. Joe had a fake flower between his teeth. I love this man. I love how much he loves being a daddy.

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Rainy days and cupcakes

2011-01-06T19:34:00.001-08:00

It was a dark and gloomy morning. The whole house was quiet until the late hours of the morning. A groggy Princess Rosemary woke up and wandered into the living room. Too wet and dreary for our morning walk, Queen Mommy made the executive decision to stay in pajamas all day. Around noon the noble queen decided an activity would be nice (nevermind that by then the sun had come up and it was a beautiful day, the decision had been made that today was a pajama day). The queen mum (aka Grandma) gifted the royal family a Babycakes cupcake maker for Christmas and it was the perfect day to experiment.

Here's Princess Rosemary (in her royal nighty) proudly showing off her strawberry cupcake!

Can I PLEASE eat it?! Take the picture already!

After they cooled, they were frosted (my first attempt at homemade icing, YUM). Plenty of icing remained after the cupcakes were frosted, so I scoured the cupboard and found Nilla Wafers and gingerbread graham crackers that we made sandwiches out of and put them in the freezer. YUM!

They are good. VERY good.

Oh, and we did remain in pajamas until around 3:00. I got spit up aimed directly down my shirt by a giggling prince and had to change and the princess put on her Cinderella dress after rest time.

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Playtime

2011-01-06T07:15:00.001-08:00

My little princess

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Baby and Me

2011-01-05T12:37:00.001-08:00

Today's was Xander's first day of school!!! I took him to our first Baby and Me class at the Family Support and Resource Center. I started taking Rosemary when she was about 15 months old but decided to go ahead and get Xander started early. He loved it! I was so nervous because the class was during the time that I can usually get him down for a nap so I thought he might be fussy, but he did awesome. Rosemary was able to join in, too. There's another 3 year old with a younger sibling in the class and he was such a sweetie! Rosemary was her usual diva-self and wasn't always doing what she was supposed to, and he took her hand and led her to the toys and shared his toys with her. He was such a sweetie! Hopefully this class will be good for both Xander and Rosemary! Next week I'm going to have her bring Max (the doll Xander gave her in the hospital when he was born) so she can do the activities with him.

I wish I had thought to take pictures! Next week I'll try to remember!

Sleep, baby, sleep

2011-01-04T05:26:00.001-08:00

I did this. I put him to sleep. If you have ever had a colicky, can't be put down baby, you will appreciate this. If you haven't, I hope you never will.

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New years resolutions

2010-12-31T09:05:00.001-08:00

In honor of New Years Eve, here are my family resolutions for 2011:

1. Create a better weekly routine. Rosemary and I had a great thing going before morning sickness hit me over the head and I spent most of this past year either sick or exhausted and it's time to get back into a good routine. This includes giving Rosemary more responsibilities including making her bed and brushing her teeth on her own every morning.

2. Add more physical activities to our daily routine. I'm going to start back on my almost-daily walks, find some sort of structured activity for Rosemary (I've looked into dance classes and gymnastics and am leaning toward the gymnastics for starters), and planning at least one activity for the whole family to do together on weekends, be it hikes, theme parks, or even just a day at the playground.

3. Stick to our budget. It is very important to me for our children to learn to be responsible and understand the value of a dollar. Last year I went a little nuts in the spending department and realized it wasn't setting the best example. I think this is going to be the most difficult resolution to stick to because I've gotten used to our almost daily Target retail therapy outings (hey, with a colicky newborn you'll do almost anything to get out of the house!). Hopefully it'll help me stick to the resolution to be more active. I can substitute walks and playground trips for the Target excursions and lunches out.

Some highlights of 2010:

- Finding out I was pregnant, finding out it was a boy, and giving birth! That was definitely the biggie of the year!

- Ryan and Carrie's wedding. Joe and I love spending time with the Brown's. We're still working on a way of officially becoming part of that family, but I'm pretty sure the next generation will find a way of making it happen.

- Trip to Ohio for Jess's wedding. It made me miss the hell out of her but also reminded me that there are awesome people in my life that will always be there, even if we don't get to be together often. Terra and Malachite joined us and Rosemary loved spending time with Malachite!

- Michelle's wedding 3 weeks postnatal. I honestly wasn't sure if I'd make it, but I'm so glad I did! This was another wedding that helped me to realize that people are in my life for a reason.

- Trip to Disney with a newborn. This was a much needed weekend getaway after 2 months of colic!

- Christmas with my family. That's always an important part of the year, made extra special by the fact that there were 3 grandkids there this year.

Things to look forward to in 2011:

- All of Xander's firsts (crawling, walking, birthday, etc)

- Rosemary will be starting preschool next fall!

- Getting my car paid off!

- Hoping for Joe's next big promotion at work.

- I'm planning on spending about a month this summer with my parents.

I also set a goal for myself- I want to learn how to play kid's songs on the guitar! Rosemary got a guitar from my parents for Christmas and I want to be able to play She'll Be Coming Round the Mountain on it. Rosemary loves that song and I need a new hobby that doesn't cost money so that's my personal goal!!

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Homeschool

2010-12-17T11:04:00.001-08:00

Right around the time I found out I was pregnant with Xander I started an at home preschool curriculum with Rosemary. The basis was one letter and one number a week, along with books, songs, and nursery rhymes. I got to the letter G and the number 6. To make up for lost time, I've started doing things when I can find the time. Poor Rosemary found the counting book we started and got really excited. So today we got to number 10.

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Happy birthday to you, my little Rosamaru!

2010-12-12T18:15:00.001-08:00

We decided to make Rosemary's birthday this year a celebration all about her. We let her decide how she wanted to spend her special day, and boy, did she have some good ideas!

On Friday, we invited Rosemary's friends to our favorite park for cupcakes. If you ever need an easy way of entertaining a bunch of 1-3 year-olds, give them cupcakes. It is messy, funny, and adorable watching them tear into them. I'm pretty sure most of them wore more of the cupcake than they ate! Here's the birthday girl enjoying her cupcake!

On her actual birthday, we let her choose what she wanted for breakfast. If you were a three-year-old, what would you choose? Rosemary felt spaghetti was the only way to start the day. Birthday girl wants spaghetti for breakfast, birthday girl gets spaghetti for breakfast.

When we asked Rosemary what she wanted to do on her birthday, she knew for sure she wanted 2 things. She wanted to go ice skating (she's been talking about it since July when they told us at the Countryside Mall ice skating rink that you had to be 3 years old to do it) and she wanted to see Santa. Her wish was our command! We dressed up our little ones and took them to the mall. Santa was awesome! He even sang "Happy Birthday" to her! (And doesn't my little man look adorable in his little bowtie onesie? I made the matching outfits the night before!)

To our luck, there is now a train that goes around the mall! Rosemary loves trains, so of course we had to hop on after telling Santa that she wanted a penguin for her birthday! She was so adorable. She waved to everyone!

By this time we were all getting a little hungry so we went to the food court and let her choose what she wanted for lunch. I was sure she'd choose a big cookie from the cookie store, but she actually chose teriyaki chicken from Sarku Japan! That is her favorite mall food!

After lunch, it was time to strap on our skates and hit the ice! We all lasted about 30 minutes. Grandma and I both had these romantic images of all of us holding hands gliding across the ice with Rosemary in the middle. Um, not quite. The ice was a little mushy and bumpy and there were lots of 5-year-old professional ice skaters (I swear these kids were pros!) tearing it up! But we did have a really great time! Rosemary, Joe, and I made it around twice before Rosemary told us she was done. I was so proud of her! I didn't know if she'd even actually want to get on the ice when we actually got there, but she did it and she really gave it her best! The rink was packed with two birthday parties, and lessons, so it was very difficult to get pictures. I did manage to snap this one of Joe and Rosemary.

After ice skating, we went to Gymboree and let Rosemary pick out a new dress from her Lola and Grandpa. She walked up the first dress she saw, said that was the one she wanted, and sat down in front of the television in the store. It was an adorable dress she picked out, and she knew exactly what she wanted so that was easy! You'll see the dress a little further down in pictures. Before leaving the mall, we stopped for ice cream. She chose a vanilla cone with sprinkles.

After our busy day at the mall (which, it turns out is a perfect place to celebrate a birthday!), we all went home and took a nap before opening up her present. I really wanted her to have a dollhouse but after spending weeks scouring stores and the internet, I couldn't find one I liked. And I really didn't like the dolls I was finding to go with them. None of them looked like our family. So I called on my super-talented parents to help me out! Grandpa found a partially made wooden dollhouse and finished it by adding some floors and painting it in colors of my choosing. Grandma found some furniture, made others, and painted most of it herself. Over Thanksgiving all of us painted the rest together. I found some unfinished wooden peg people and had both sets of grandparents paint themselves while I painted my little family of four. I LOVE the way it turned out! There is no way we could have found a pre-made dollhouse that was as personalized (some of the fabric used for the bedding was leftover from a dress I made Rosemary) and I think when she gets older she'll really appreciate all the effort that went into it. Hopefully she can pass it down to her kids one day (a long, long time from now!).

Here's our family! From Left- Grandpa Bailey, Lola, Daddy (Xander in front), Mommy (Rosemary in front, I love the pigtails!), Grandpa Freeman, and Grandma. I'm going to bring some more unfinished pieces with me to my parents house for Christmas so my sister can paint her family. Rosemary definitely needs a cousin Malachite to play with!

I think she likes it! (We went back and painted a little more of the frame of the house sea green and I think I might add some wall decor at some point. But the house is so cute as it is that I don't want to mess it up!)

Here she is showing off her Rosemary doll! She's also wearing her new birthday dress from Lola and Grandpa in this picture! The girl has good taste!

We had pizza for dinner (her choosing, of course) and asked her if she wanted anything else. She said she wanted a balloon and lemonade so after dinner Joe and I took her to the grocery store and let her pick out a balloon. Would you believe there was a penguin balloon?! I didn't get a picture of it, but I'm pretty sure Santa put it there after Rosemary told him she wanted a penguin for Christmas! Before going off to bed for the night, grandma had one more present for Rosemary- this beautiful "princess" nighty. When my mom told me she bought Rosemary a neglige, my mind went to places not appropriate for a 3-year-old, but when I saw what she meant, I couldn't believe how absolutely beautiful it is!

All in all, Rosemary's birthday was the perfect day. Everyone needs a day that's all about them and that was exactly what her day was. I think we're going to make it a new tradition to let her choose her birthday activities from now on. We ALL had fun! Joe and I agree that December 11th is our new favorite holiday!

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She is Three...

2010-12-11T18:47:00.000-08:00

The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new. ~Rajneesh

Today, my first born is a gorgeous, intelligent, funny, dramatic little princess who gives me my happiest moments, my moments of most frustration, and the biggest belly laughs I have ever experienced. There are a million things about her that I love, but here are just a few that I know I will never want to forget about my three-year-old little girl:

I love that every time she hears music, she drops whatever she is doing and runs to her bedroom to put on one of her princess dresses so she can dance around the living room like Tina the Ballerina.
I love that she has to have matching clothes every day and she will not leave the house without something glittery or shiny on.
I love that she loves her brother and always wants to hold him. And that as soon as he starts to fuss she puts her hands up and says "I'm done!" She always says "I like having a little brother."
I love that she always notices when I have a new shirt or dress or something for the house. She says "Ooh, that's pretty. I like your new princess dress."
I love that everything pretty to her is "princess."
She is the messiest eater in the world. I don't so much love this after 3 years, but I don't ever want to forget it. I still have to strip her down to her undies to eat dinner because she is such a mess!
I love how she gets scared at silly little cartoons, like Toy Story, but loves scary Halloween decorations and zombie movies (no, we did not let her watch a zombie movie. It was the Halloween episode of Community and she would not go to sleep so we let her stay up. The entire campus became zombies and she LOVED it. For about a week she would walk around like a zombie and cracking up at herself.) But cute things like little yellow ducky puppets scare her.
I love that she thanks me for the simplest things, like doing her laundry.
I love that she is mine. She makes me want to be a better person. She repeats everything she sees and she is very sensitive. She has made me throw out everything I ever thought I knew about children and learn a whole new way of being. The Rosemary way. She doesn't follow a book. The "correct" way of parenting doesn't apply to her. She definitely has her own agenda and keeps me on my toes. She is at the same time the sweetest, most gentle spirit I have ever met, and the most determined, head strong little girl I have ever known.

I remember bringing this tiny little thing home from the hospital and opening up all my parenting books trying to solve this mystery that is baby. I wondered how they could just send me home with this fragile, tiny little thing and expect us all to survive! And now I look at her, grown into this perfect little girl, and realize how wonderful my life is, now that she is in my world.

Neck aches and back aches, oh my!

2010-12-06T06:19:00.001-08:00

I need to keep reminding myself that one day I am going to miss the time when Xander could only sleep cuddled in my arms. I know one day he is not even going to want me to hug him in public. I need to enjoy the quiet, sweet moments when he is snuggled up and all cozy next to me. I'm sure one day I'll forget about the stiff neck and aching back that sleeping in a recliner for over 2 months is causing me. I'll forget about the aching knees from standing up and sitting down so often (I'm really giving my age away now). I'll forget about the sleep deprivation from waking up every 2-3 hours during the night to feed him. But for now, I just want one good night's sleep. In a bed. With blankets.

Merry (early) Christmas to me!

2010-12-01T19:46:00.001-08:00

I have been trying to figure out what I wanted to put on this wall forever. I finally decided that white shelves would be just the thing and was ecstatic when we found them half price on black friday at hobby lobby! I asked joe to get them for me as my christmas present, along with some other home accents that I will post once I get them all prettied up. Since we live in florida and don't have a fireplace, this was the perfect place to hang our stockings! This is also the look I want to bring to the rest of our living/dining room space. I love the way it lightens the space! The white just feels so fresh! My dream is to make our house feel like a beach cottage getaway. Its such a tiny little house that it definitely has that cottage feel and I think once I get everything all prettied up, I might fall in love with my house.

edit: I love that I am able to blog from my phone, but I guess the quality of the photos just isn't top notch because this looks so much prettier in person!

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More Thanksgiving pictures

2010-11-28T18:59:00.000-08:00

Joe amazes me once again with his photography. He was able to get a lot more pictures than I did over Thanksgiving. If you view it as a slideshow, you get some funny little action shots- like Xander going from smiling to spitting up to laughing about it and Rosemary breaking a Christmas ornament and then lamenting over it.

Here's a link:

Joe's flickr

Thanksgiving celebration

2010-11-27T08:54:00.001-08:00

I wasn't able to get a lot of pictures, but here are a few from our thanksgiving celebration. I think my favorite tradition is going to the beach while the turkey is cooking! It was xanders first trip to the beach. He mostly sat under the shaded umbrella with me and nursed while rosemary played in the sand with her grandparents. I didn't get any pictures, but when we got back to my parents house my dad and joe took rosemary out in the kayak and fishing in their backyard. Joe took some pictures and when he gets them uploaded I will add them because it was too cute! She was wearing her swimsuit with a tutu while fishing! Later in the day we sat down and feasted on our 24 pound turkey and dozen or so sides.

We avoided most of the black friday madness by sticking to shops at the beaches and ended up finding incredible deals on all the things I have been wanting to update our dining room! I can't wait to get home to get everything put up!

We are in the car on our way home now to put up our christmas decorations! I have been wanting to put our tree up since xander was born so I can't wait!

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Tangled and dresses!

2010-11-24T19:07:00.001-08:00

We packed a lot into today! This morning we packed the family into my parents minivan and we headed out to the first showing of Tangled. Rosemary has been asking to see it for weeks and it finally started playing today so she was really excited! As is typical for her, she was scared through all of the cutesy parts and laughed when the action picked up and the movie got a little scary. She has her fears backwards. Xander did amazing during his first trip to the movie theater. He slept the whole time!

Joes parents arrived today, bearing gifts for the little ones. As you can see in the picture, Rosemary had a good time opening her bag! Of course, her giant loot-filled bag wasnt enough, she wanted the shirt daddys parents got him instead!

And finally, I finished Rosemarys Thanksgiving dress tonight. I have made her one every year and I was so worried I would nt find the time to get it done this year. We made a special trip to Joann fabrics and let Rosemary pick out the material. It took me a couple weeks and all I had finished until we got to my parents house was washing and ironing the fabric. Tonight I put the finishing touches on the dress. It's reversible. On the one side is her handprint turkey and on other is nothing else but ballerina princesses for the self-proclaimed "princess of the princesses."

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Camping out

2010-11-23T16:52:00.001-08:00

I think my dad might be the coolest grandpa on the planet. Rosemary wanted to sleep on the porch so he set up the tent and they're sleeping out there tonight!

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Grandma and grandpas, day 1

2010-11-23T16:00:00.001-08:00

I think the kiddos like grandma and grandpas house. Xander had been amazing. Hes only had one crying fit, and that was in the car. He hasn't even spit up much! Rosemary has been precious. Grandma and mommy went on a few errands earlier while rosemary played at the playground with grandpa and daddy. I wish I had pictures of that. I guess she made friends with a 7 and 9 year old! I can't get over how well behaved our kids are! I guess it helps having all that attention!

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Xander is (almost) 2 months old!

2010-11-22T09:50:00.001-08:00

Today was Xanders two month doctors appointment. He jumped from the 25th to 77th percentile in weight! My boy is getting big! The pediatrician said the prilosec should start taking effect more this week so hopefully we will start to see less spit up and less fussiness soon! We are also going to try to supplement with a different formula to see if it helps. That will be nice and give me a break every once in a while. He also got his vaccines today which was not so fun. Now we are on our way to grandma and grandpas house!

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