What John does for Fun

There is now a moose icon on Maia's website. Thanks to John. Because she loves the moose with the loose caboose and he in turn loves her.

And he calls me compulsive.

ps: will roll out the new sites as soon as the designs are all finished. we're working on content as well...

Here's to This Morning

I am wishing all my mornings were like this one...and wondering what I can do to make that happen. Right now the babies are *mostly* sleeping. Stella is fussing a bit, but she's ready to go down. Maia is fed, pottied and quietly playing in her room. Dinner is in the slow cooker. My coffee is still hot.

Life could only be more perfect if I didn't have a three foot tall pile of clean laundry that needs attention.

Other things of note: This morning Stella rolled from her belly to her back. It's not a fluke. She did it twice and she is so proud of herself. She looked up at me laughing at her with a face that said, "See Mom. I can do it myself. No tummy time for me!"

Elise is still on the fence about turning over, so more tummy time for her. But Elise is eating solid food! She had her whole portion (about a tablespoon and a half) of rice cereal and banana for breakfast this morning. Yay Elise! We'll get some meat on your bones.

Stella isn't sure about the whole solid thing...she is the bottle champ after all. But she's not completly opposed to the process so I'm sure she'll like it soon enough.

Maia is still having trouble with poop and the potty. It's the big bane of toddler hood right now. But hopefully she'll realize that the potty is a good place to go soon. Because that's I mess I don't relish.

She is loving her mini preschool and so am I. Maia is also developing an uncanny ablility to quote her favorite shows and books. A budding star of stage and screen perhaps? Or just a toddler developing her memory. Only time will tell.

That pile of laundry is calling and so is an angry babe. It's been pleasant this morning and I hope that continues. At least I've had my nice and warm coffee.

12.2 Down

I started Weight Watchers again and am happy to report that I feel great! It's been 5 weeks (four of using the program) and I'm down 12.2 pounds. Woo-hoo. It's a start and I hope to finish in about a year at a slim 145 or so. Wish me luck and happy pointing!

At the Mall...Friday Night

With the big day of love fast approaching I decided it was high time to update my *ahem* "special drawer". I haven't bought slinky silkies in about three years now...since I outfitted my trousseau. My only excuse is that I've pretty much been pregnant since then.

In any case, a quick trip to the slinky store was needed. Of course, this would be the busiest day to go...a Friday night and a rainy one to boot. What else is there to do but shop? But since the babies were asleep and dinner was eaten I took a leap of faith and leaped into the car.

I usually do this kind of shopping in the afternoon, when kids are in school and most other folks are working so I've never run into the crowd that was shopping along with me tonight. There was the mother and son team....and I should clarify that the son in question was about eight and obsessed with pulling fringed crotchless panties off the rack and sticking his hand through the crotch opening then asking his mom what the hole was for. Not the conversation I want to have with my son at eight...or really...anytime.

There were also, not one, but two, sets of families shopping. Mom, dad and daughters. One girl was about six and liked the satin teddies. The other was about nine and just wanted to hide as her mom was paging through a rack of nighties and asking her husband which he liked best.

That aside, I have to admit I was most put off by the late teen-aged boy who was there with his sister and her friends as the sister shopped for new bras. Her friends thought it was a blast to have her prance around him after each bra was tried on...looking for the one that gave her the most "lift". The only reason he might have made me the most uncomfortable was the fact that he a hovering by the changing area right by the sale rack I was rifling through and his glower kind of killed the flirty mood for me.

I guess the lesson learned is that I shouldn't have worried about bringing my chaos into the frilly store. Because no one else seems to mind. But I will say I had a much better time no making others think twice about their purchase of tear-away panties and indulging in a little fantasy of my own...the one that involves not pushing a stroller around the suburban mall on a Friday evening.

Two-Year-Old Simile

Maia and I are eating dinner together and I am drinking a sparkling water. Maia loves to watch to bubbles move from the bottom of the bottle to the top. Tonight she made this observation:

"The bubbles are going up the bottle, like when I go to the park and climb up the ladder."

I think she's ready for college.

Yes, You Are Maia

After putting up Maia's little hair into two high piggy tails this morning, she bounces off my lap and declares: "I'm a real princess now!"

Three Girls Four Months and Counting

The babies turned four months yesterday. It's kind of a big milestone...the completion of the "fourth trimester" and the transition from new born to infant. Case in point, I feel like I have 10 minutes to post as opposed to the last three months when I barley had time to go to the bathroom.

Stella and Elise are amazing. Good, good, babies and they are beginning to settle into a groove. Right now they are sitting in bouncy chairs batting at rattles and cooing. Maia is eating a breakfast of French toast, applesauce and fruit. I am having coffee and deciding how to spend the day. I wish every morning was as good as this one is right now.

The other amazing thing happening in our house right now is the relationship that is beginning to grow between the toddler and the babies. Maia has gone from indifference to jealousy to a kind of "big sister" role where she will play and talk to the babies now. She loves to tell them "good morning" and "hi baby" and "look at me! I'm smiling at you". Stella and Elise are responding with big toothless grins and laughs at Maia's antics. This is what I was imagining when we began to expand our little family. While we still have moments when Maia tells me to "put the baby down" and do something for her, I hope we can grow these good feelings to a life time of good times for our girls.

Speaking of a life time of good times...we took a little family vacation to San Diego over New Years and it was so wonderful I want to make it an annual trip. All the kids did great on the road both there and back and were good as gold there. I think we all got to decompress a bit and unwind and start the year off fresh. I loved it. And I am so happy we threw caution to the wind and took all of our kids out. We love to travel and the sooner we get the little ones in on the program, the better.

I hear some discontent from the bouncer so I must be off. I have made some minor resolutions this year including one to try to record more of what the girls do. John and I have some things in the works and we'll see if we can save some of the fleeting moments of baby and toddler hood for these girls...

I'll Never Understand...

...how such little creatures create so much laundry.

I've been living a dream. Maia has so many articles of clothing, I was going two weeks before washing her stuff. Even then I'd only do it because my favorite outfits would need to be washed.

I've done two loads of mostly baby stuff a week for the past three weeks.

And it's a wonder I have any clean underwear. Because I don't have any clean t-shirts left.

Three Girls...

"You're going to need to invest in toilet paper."

This told to John last week as we were leaving dinner out (!) and he was chatting about what was needed for a father of three little girls.

Oh Yeah...

The Terry Twins have arrived! A wee bit early, but doing just fine. Our lives have been blessed by Stella Madeline and Elise Carolyn. For those of you keeping score at home, yes, we now have three little girls.

Details to follow, it's been an amazing two weeks so far.

Things Not to Say in Front of CPS:

John is sitting on a chair burping baby Stella. Maia walks into the room and halts in her tracks, looking at him with shock on her face.

"Daddy, don't hit the baby!"

Already protecting her little sister from the big world.

Words I Thought I'd Never Hear in this Lifetime

I used chicken broth to make polenta (mmmm....polenta) tonight. Maia was watching as I measured out the 3 1/2 cups of broth.

Her comment? "Juice!"
My response, "Chicken juice."
Her reply, "Delicious chicken juice."

Yes Maia, delicious chicken juice.

Wait Until She Discovers Duct Tape

John has been working on ripping out and replacing the majority of our floors for the past week. We have a limited time-frame to get rid of the nasty carpet and linoleum and put down shiny, caramel colored bamboo. Limited by the impending birth of our two babies.

Of course this means several trips to OSH and Home Depot. One afternoon John takes off during nap time to get the new plywood for the sub-flooring. He takes the Eagle with the trailer attached and heads out. Later on, I get a call telling me that the car ignition has somehow gone kaput and could I please bring the Chilton (car repair) manual over to Home Depot. Alright. No sweat.

Off Maia and I go and while John hot wires his first car, we chill in our car. Where are we going to go? Running around the Home Depot holds no charm for me. And the parking lot is an even worse idea. Of course Maia has other ideas and is not keen on sitting in her car seat not moving for who knows how long. I try to explain the situation by telling her that we have to wait here because daddy's car is broken. She replies: "Daddy car broken? Needs tape."

Yup. Someday she'll be the girl with the big roll of duct tape in her purse...

And This Quick One is for John:

I made a quick breakfast of French toast for Maia and myself (sorry love, I'll make pancakes for you soon) because I was super hungry and wanted to eat cake.

Maia sits down to eat her toast and after a bite or two she looks at me and goes: "Apple sauce dip for toast?"

Because that's the way her daddy eats his and that's the way she wants hers. So she did.

Bed Time for my Big Girl

So, potty training, or "Potty Learning" is on hold until...well...until Maia stops screaming every time we mention the potty. It will happen, and honestly, I'm not all that concerned about it. One cool thing about doing the cloth diapers is it won't make a difference to our budget to have one, two or three kids in diapers for a time. I'm going to have to do laundry anyway...what's one more bottom to cover?

But space is an issue in our house and I really want Maia in her toddler bed before the babies get here. But I have be kind of worried about trying another transition with her after the potty debacle. Over the past few days Maia has been showing us she is ready to make the switch out of the crib. For one thing, her climbing skills have dramatically improved, along with her gaining a bit more height. She is practacally bouncing out of her bed when we try to put her down. She is still sleeping well and doesn't have an issue with night waking. Once she's down, she's down and her falling asleep time is improving.

I was going to get her crib down and out this weekend, but ended up painting and beginning the prep for the great floor project. Please don't ask...I'll have to share this when we're done. So the house is in chaos ans I didn't want to add crib mess to the total. But yesterday I decided to at least make a couple of changes to her toddler bed to get us ready. Maia and I went to the baby store and picked out new sheets and a new bumper pad for her "big girl bed". I thought a crib bumper would make the toddler bed a bit more like her crib and more cozy at the same time. She picked out a cheery yellow set and seemed excited to have new stuff for her new bed.

After nap, I made a big deal out of putting together her new bed with her sheet and bumper and new blanket and then asking her if she would like her friends from her baby crib to move to her new big girl bed. We went through the list of bed time lovies:

hippo
puppy
yeastie
green pillow
and of course--Moosey

Each was moved from the crib to the big bed. We were almost done when Maia remembered she also "need yellow blanket" and so the baby-sized yellow thermal blanket made the switch as well.

I didn't take down her crib...I guess I needed the security of knowing it was available if we needed it. But I did move some furniture around and block it somewhat and make it look not welcoming.

Last night we talked all about sleeping in her new bed. She had a good dinner and ten she had lovely bath. We cleaned up her bedroom (I didn't want toys around in case she got up to play) and read a bunch of stories ending with one of out favorites which includes a big girl sleeping in her big girl bed. We talked about that for a bit when Maia decided it was time to go "lay down Moosey". She was ready to jump into her toddler bed, but we did our ritual of Maia turning off her bedroom light and then checking to make sure her night-light was on. I placed her in bed, on top of th covers because she doesn't sleep with a blanket over her yet, and said god night.

I had the monitor on and I went to my room to listen to her and see if she really was going to go to sleep. I heard the normal rustling of a toddler settling in, and some mom-mom-mommy-mom-mommy kind of fussing, but I held my ground and waited to see if she would start pounding on the door. Never before have I wanted a video monitor as much as I did for the 10 or so minutes it took for her to fall asleep.

Wait. 10 minutes? Yes! She was out in so little time I couldn't believe it.

I told John the news when her got home and we both snuck into her room before we turned in for the night just to see. There she was, stretched out and comfy looking fast asleep in her toddler bed. John went and got her out this morning and he said she was just sitting there chilling and when he opened the door she told him she was "all done bed". That was it.

We'll have to see how nap time goes, when it's not all dark in her room and it can take her longer to settle down, and we might have more work once she realizes she can get up and out of bed by herself. But we have some time and this success to build on.

She's getting s big! I know that's what she's suposted to do and in most ways I am so glad...I just can't believe we've had her for two years and how much she's changed in that short time. I'm listening to her sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" right now as she plays with blocks on the floor...happy as a clam to do her own thing.

She's a big little girl...but she will always be my baby.

No, Really, She's Two

Right now Maia is enjoying a lovely post dinner-dinner of wheat crackers spread with triple cream brie and draped with wild-caught smoked salmon. She's washing the treat down with a glass of unsweetened cranberry juice cut with orange sparkling water.

What else would you expect from the girl who responds to the statement that "We're going out to dinner" with her choice for food: "Sushi?"

If a Two-Year-Old Notices...You Might Have a Problem

Sunday started off on the wrong foot for me. Bad dreams. Screaming toddler and one big potty 'accident'...also belonging to the toddler.

Maia and I cleaned up the bathroom floor and I threw her into the bath. I was kind of moping around and not being very fun when John came out of the bedroom to see what was happening with his girls.

"Good morning Maia...how are you? How is the bath?" Was John's question to the soapy girl in the tub.

"Mommy need coffee" was Maia's reply.

Road Trip Recap

For those of you interested in our Summer Adventure, Mr. John is posting a thoughtful travelogue over at Memory Leak. I'm trying to help. We'll get the whole thing covered eventually. Enjoy the first installment and check back for more!

Maia had Better Marry Well

I had the most lovely day yesterday entertaining Miss Ambrosia Ananas who I am getting to meet IN REAL LIFE. My first Internet friendship get together and we had a wonderful time on a gourmet (if whirlwind) tour of San Francisco.

We went to the Ferry Building Marketplace and were lucky enough to go on the weekday where they have the open air Farmer's Market happening. So much lovely fruit and tomatoes! Of course inside is a culinary wonderland and we shopped our way through the cooking store and then decided to eat our way through the rest of the Ferry Building stopping at Recchiuti Confections, Scharffen Berger, Miette (pastry shop) and a little grocery for salty snacks.

After the Ferry Building we headed up to Ghirardelli Square to raid the chocolate shop and try some delicious cupcakes at Kira's Cupcakes.

Um yeah. So I'm waiting until Friday to have my blood sugars drawn, I think.

While we were sampling chocolate divine at Recchiuti, Maia had the chance to show how we are raising her to be a trophy wife someday. I had decided to purchase one (my mistake) of Recchiuti's signature burnt caramel chocolates for myself. Maia of course wanted in on the dark chocolate action and asked for some. I handed over the UNSAMPLED, by me, chocolate and she immediately made it hers--eating it with a combination of delicacy and gusto that only a true gourmet can achieve. This was witnessed by a rather astonished woman who looked at me and noted that Maia had refined tastes.

"Yes", I replied "She prefers her chocolate to be between a 68% and a 72%".
"Really", was the woman's reply. "No Hershey's for her, then."
"Nope" I laughed. "And you know what else she loves? Sushi. We're raising her to be an expensive date."

We Made It!

And some thought we were crazy to contemplate a 2500 mile road trip with a two-year-old. Well "nanananah!" to the nay-sayers. We had a fantastic time...so fun I almost wasn't ready for it to end. And Miss Maia woke up each day and told us: "Time to ride in new blue car" so I'm sure she had a good time too. :)

We're recovering this weekend. Maybe I'll dig up some cool stories for later on.