Don’t Lose Your Head

April 24, 2013April 24, 20131 Comment

Shirley is Baylor’s favorite doll. Shirley is generally never far away, always necessary for bed time and is responsible for teaching B how to pump her legs on the swing (according to Baylor). She is periodically the reason that Baylor can’t sleep as she likes to talk – a lot. And sometimes when Shirley has a bad dream, it wakes Baylor up. There was a time when Shirley did not like Noni and Noni spent much time and effort to win Shirley’s affection, which she eventually did. Overall Shirley teaches B good things so she’s allowed to stay.

Yesterday Baylor was busying herself “cutting the strings off of Shirley”. I didn’t know what that meant, but it was quiet and I figured I could repair anything that was cut. About a half hour later, Baylor walked into the living room with a face that I can only describe as sheer panic. In her left hand she held Shirley. In her right hand she held Shirley’s head (I’m dying as I’m writing this). I immediately burst out laughing and could. not. stop. myself. Baylor yelled “IT’S NOT EVEN FUNNY!!!” which only made it worse.

I assured her that I could fix dear Shirley and put a safety pin in her neck as a temporary hold. I was able to sew her up this morning and Bay gave her a nice new princess band aid to cover her stitches.

Last night as Peter was putting B to bed he mentioned that Shirley had an accident. Bay abruptly turned to him and said “now, who told you THAT??“. Clearly, we are not talking about the accident.

Shirley. Shirley, are you ok?? I don’t think the drugs have worn off yet…

Morning Sunshine

April 17, 20131 Comment

We are so lucky that a week of “cry it out” went really well and the little guy was actually able to move into his crib in Baylor’s room. It went great! Like too good to be true….which means it wasn’t surprising when he started waking up every morning around 4am and waking Bay up too. We spent two weeks pulling him out every morning around 4am and putting him back in his pack n play in our room so he could fuss himself back to sleep without waking up B. I’m hoping another week or two of cry it out in our room will get him over this 4am wake up and back into his crib!

Until then, it’s hard to resist this view:

He’s trying hard to crawl – he gets on his hands and knees and rocks so hard that it scoots the PnP across the floor…

Boys of Summer

March 20, 2013March 20, 2013Leave a comment

We are a baseball family. We played baseball, watch baseball and hope that our kiddos like it as much as PW and I do. Peter stocked up on spring training tickets the first day they were available. We’ve been to I think 4 games already and have two more on the calendar. It is a lovely way to play hookie, get a tan and enjoy cold beer.

We decided to take just Baylor to a Rockies v Dodgers game and sit in the grass. We knew we wouldn’t see much of the game, but we wanted to have some big girl time with Bay. We got to Salt River Fields (my second favorite stadium) early, laid out a quilt and proceeded to eat until we were full. She got to get lemon aid from the vendor, hot dogs from the concession stands and Italian Ice in a baseball helmet. She and Peter scoured the stadium looking for Dinger, the Rockie’s mascot, and she had her glove ready to snag any foul ball that came our way. The weather was perfect. She was happy. It was a sun soaked memory in the making.

Dinger. She is in love.

The crowd in the grass

Italian Ice in a batting helmet

Run For Their Lives

March 19, 20131 Comment

We have had the pleasure of befriending the B family over the last year. Baylor and Ella have been in the same class for the last two years and Olivia, Ella’s older cool sister, is one of Baylor’s favorite people. Gretchen and Mike are their hilarious mom and dad and two people that Peter and I are always excited to spend time with.

This past January marked the end of TWO YEARS of chemotherapy for Olivia. She had been fighting leukemia for almost half her life and so we were excited to participate in all of the celebratory runs, luncheons and parties. We ran on Team Olivia in the Children’s Cancer Network 5 and 10k a few weeks ago. It was a fantastic event – there were games, obstetrical courses and tons of free food and swag. We ran like crazy and had a ball and the kiddos did too. We were so excited to follow Olivia in the kid’s walk as this was the first time she would be doing so as a survivor.

I did not anticipate the kiddos cooperating so I told PW to run on and I would just get as far as the kids would allow. Apparently running in a large group was wildly entertaining because they were angels the entire time. We finished the 5k in 38 minutes…which when you’re pushing a jogger that weighs 75lbs (no joke, we added it up), isn’t too shabby!

Ready to run…errr, ride!

Auggie, Baylor, Ella, Olivia and Morgan

Buddies

Team Wand was snuggled and packing snacks

Stephanie, Morgan’s mom and one of my favorite people. She also ran the 10k in 50 minutes. She is a freak.

Team Olivia ready to run!

The girls (and Augg) ready for the survivor ~~walk~~ ride

What’s Wrong With This Picture?

March 18, 2013Leave a comment

If you guessed that this poor baby’s mother didn’t check to make sure BOTH feet were out of his bouncer, you’re correct!

Spring Breaking

March 15, 20131 Comment

This past week was spring break for Bay (why preschoolers need a break, I’ll never know) and it happen to coincide with one of the busiest weeks I’ve ever had with the water company. To say that I am exhausted is an understatment. The good news is that with a little sleep training, the big guy has been sleeping amazingly. So while mentally falling apart, at least I’m getting more consecutive hours of sleep than I’ve seen in almost six months.

I recap our week in pictures:

Train Park fun – could someone tell me where those legs came from??!

Not totally sure about the sand

90 degree heat never looked so cute

Perfection.

Fun with the sprinklers in the backyard. Please disregard the dead plants – I’ve decided if it’s going to be 94 degrees today, it’s probably not going to freeze again – so I’m trimming this weekend. Fingers crossed. Focus on how lovely the grass looks! Oh and the cute kids!

This is what happens when you’re too small to fight off your sister…

It’s really too bad that we don’t have enough Little People to make AN ENTIRE CITY WITH TWO SCHOOL BUSES AND SAFARI CARS

Auggie patiently listening to his singer songwriter sister

The Truth About Girls – Number 1

February 27, 20131 Comment

The truth about living with little girls is that no matter what is in the dryer, it will come out with glitter on it. When you have a girl, glitter just seems to come out of their pores. It’s on their clothes, their dress up clothes, hair clips, shoes, stickers…you name it, it has glitter on it. And in turn, so does everything in your house.

The Happiest of Hours

February 22, 20131 Comment

We live in a one of those weird neighborhoods where we know (and like) almost everyone on our street. Not only that, but there are a ton of kids and they have a blast playing together. Another benefit is when you get a text from a neighbor at 8am that says “Does 345 work for wine/bikes?”. The answer is yes. Yes it does.

And this is what 4 moms and 9 kids having happy hour looks like:

Riding down the street

Controlled chaos

Bay giving J a ride

The girls and the babies

Happy mommas

Berkley keeping watch

Auggie and H baby wrestling

We stayed out until Peter pulled up – it was like your mom calling you home for dinner since he arrived with Julio G’s Mexican food!

Orngen Juice

February 21, 20131 Comment

That’d be “orange juice” in Baylor speak.

Between the sudden freezing temperatures and theiving neighbors (I asked a woman to stop picking our oranges one day and her response was “Oh, I didn’t think you were using them” and then walked off with an arm full. Who does that?!) we picked all of our oranges off our two trees. I hate doing it because it’s so much more fun to pick what you want and let the rest ripen on the tree. Arg.

Anyway, I got a new juicer that was easier for Baylor to use and we set out to juice about 75 oranges this morning. She gave up after about 20 but Auggie and I made it through the rest of the bags. Three pretty bottles of juice were our prize!

Tangelos

Chef Wand and her Sous Chef Augustus

Loving the new juicer

If being cute makes you a good cook, Auggie won the James Beard Award

The final (delicious) product

Happy Valentine’s Day

February 14, 2013Leave a comment

Or as Baylor says “Balentimes” Day.

When you’re 3 1/2, nothing says love and Balentimes like barnyard animals. I sent her to school today with 22 handmade valentines – almost all of them containing pig, horse and cow stickers. I didn’t realize what she was doing until she was a few in and then I thought they were cute! Only she could get away with putting pigs on valentines.