Weekend Recap

Friday was Dave's last Oakland day. He only had to work a half day to pack up his office. Since he was getting off work at noon the girls and I went to Fairyland. We picked Dave up on the way and once there we had a picnic lunch. The girls had a fabulous time riding the rides, using their storybook key, seeing the critters and other animals, and of course soaking in their daddy-time. I think I could have went home and they could have cared less but hey they see me everyday all day so it's fine I'm not sad at all... ok maybe slightly.

The girls watching puppet theater

Saturday morning Dave went to get the new battery for the car but it died at the gas station before he could get it replaced. Since he didn't bring his cellphone he had to walk a few blocks home. It was already 90 degrees at 10AM. He was so sweaty. But on his way home he had found a diamond tennis bracelet on the ground. Yea me!!! It was really fancy and nice. Sucks to be the one that lost it.

Saturday evening Grammie and Papa came to bring the hot tub and the new clothes for Olivia. It was a scorcher of a day but we set up the tub anyway and ordered a pizza and drank some beer. Since my parents arrived late in the day the girls were in bed before we knew it and we had a quiet house to ourselves. It's nice to be able to have a grown-up conversation with my mom occasionally without Olivia jumping right next to us. My dad went to sleep on the floor like usual and Dave did some work for the home business to get it finished without kid distraction.

Sunday my parents took Olivia to church and then we all went out to lunch. The girls were both very good while eating with a fork and sitting like ladies in their chairs. Both of them ate the fried calamari which was a little surprising. I thought Ava would spit it out. Liv loves lemons so she squeezed lemon on her bread, calamari, and mac-n-cheese. She even ordered lemonade which was also weird since we always order them milk and no one told her it was on the menu... Maybe she can read and we are too slow to figure it out. Who knows.

Then it was time to say goodbye to Grammie and Papa and Livy just broke down and sobbed. She didn't want Grammie to go. She wanted to go to her house. It was sad. Just plain sad. We needed to exchange a shirt Dave had bought on Saturday so went we to the store and what do you know... a few bracelets later Olivia was all smiles again. She picked out a necklace for her and Ava and a few bracelets. Both of the girls were giggly as is any girl with jewels.

Beyond that things were pretty routine as usual. I've been keeping Ava's food journal everyday for her nutritionist and she woke up both Saturday and Sunday mornings in dry pull-ups. I think next week we will start her in the night time panties. This week Dave started teaching again, moved to the SF office, his mom and sister are coming, then my parents are coming back for their flight to Maui. I think I have enough to deal with without adding possible peepee sheets to the list.

Artsy Stuff

Made it home from school today with a new set of artwork and a giant lollipop. Liv couldn't wait again to rummage through her backpack and show off her pictures.

Here's what's left of the lollipop.

So far so good. I'm thinking Dave and I made a really good decision to send Liv to school and we found a great one to boot. I'm also learning to combat the treats that Livy brings home and I come prepared to hand something to Ava for in the car as well. The crying and bickering has stopped for now.

My BeefCake

Went to the doctor to get the goiter checked out on the back of Ava's leg. Turns out it is a begnine cyst that may or may not go away on it's own, may or may not get bigger, and can and may be removed whenever we deem necessary. Good to know.

I was afraid it would be a wart. Yuck. Yuck. Yuck.

The boy next door had warts last year pretty bad and it was gross. He had to have them burned off. God only knows where he got them from and thankfully they didn't spread to anyone else.

As of now we just need to keep an eye on the little lump and make sure it doesn't change. I think she's too young to be worrying about having it surgically removed. Just to get her to lay still to numb her leg would be a pain in the ass and then she definitely wouldn't lay there on the table long enough to let them cut it out. Can you spell NIGHTMARE? And of course I'd be alone with Olivia who would be there to create a raucous just on principle. I think NOT. But if Ava chooses that when she's older than I'm behind her 100 percent. Unless of course it does get bigger and it consumes her entire leg...then we could do it sooner.

So while we waited for the dermatologist, my lovey pediatrician reminded me yet again to bring in pictures of the kids for his wall and announced that he would be setting Ava up with a nutritionist...Wow quite a leap from, "your kids are cute, I'd like a picture please" to "and FYI your daughter needs her calories counted." Umm. I know that she's on the heavier side (85% in weight for her age and 97% in height for age) and I did admit we over fed her to keep her at the table with us last year because she ate so fast BUT after her 2 year checkup I did cut her portions down considerably, with much crying from Ava, and cut out a lot of extra snacks, limited juice and milk, and she is slimming down. But I guess none of that really matters.

I should probably just be thankful that my appointment today was free. Who knows what the nutritionist will cost. Perhaps just a regular co-pay. All-in-all I thought I was doing a pretty good job just in portion control and in getting her out to exercise. Apparently now I have to count calories as well. I wonder if she's too young for lean cuisine? Just kidding. I guess now I can cross Popsicles off my grocery list.

And for those of you who have skinny kids...the grass ain't any greener on the other side.

Dogs, Art, And The Other Stuff

While Olivia was away at preschool Ava was an excellent doggie mommy.

As you can see she loves her puppy very much.

Once home, Livy displayed her art creations. This is the big yellow sun.

This is "B" the letter for the week.

Here's Olivia's name written by yours truly.
And the 2 most important things that Livy said happened at preschool today were 1) when Gracie, her best friend, gave her a kiss on her back. They hugged and Livy hugged some other kids too who according to Olivia are all her best friends and 2) she saw a boy go potty and demonstrated it for me both in the car and in front of the toilet. She pushed her pants down and said, "he holds his crotch like this and then squirt..squirt!!!" Isn't preschool lovey...

And in our own pottyland, Olivia hasn't had any potty accidents at all since the first two days she started sleeping in her panties. She just knows to hold it now I guess. I thought this would have been a longer process but thank heavens it wasn't. She is completely and fully potty trained. WooHoo Livynut!!!

Ava started today wearing her panties during nap. I have a feeling things will work out just fine. She never wets her pull ups at nap anyway. After a week or two I'll start with her sleeping at night. My little girls are growing up- literally. Ava grew another half inch in a month. She is now 38 1/2 inches tall and maintaining her 37 pounds, and Olivia is 42 inches tall and 37 pounds. Both of them are wearing size 5-6 clothing from the girls (not toddler) department. At this rate next week they'll be shopping in the juniors department. We better find a money tree soon:)

**Update:
Ava made it through her first nap in panties and came out of her room dry...cranky, but dry. Good job Avacakes!!!

Saturday BBQ

Baby "A" came to play with the girls and we had a barbecue. She's getting so big now she can really enjoy the girls and vice versa.

It's the dads' time to watch the kids. Don't they look confused?

Guess who's toes these are...Ava's!!! We painted our toes to look pretty for our friends.

We had a wonderful night, kickin' back hangin' out with our friends. It was sort of the last big hurrah before everyone starts teaching, working, or going back to school. Summer's over this week. I'm sad. I've really enjoyed it this year. Now it's back to me being alone with the girls from basically Sunday night to Friday evening and having to do all the housework, cooking three meals a day, cleaning and vacuuming, bill paying, grocery shopping, shuttling Olivia to and from preschool, dog poop picking up, nap giving, teeth brushing, story reading, puzzle building, you name it I do it every day all day all by myself. It's exhausting. Dave will be home two week nights after 6PM when he isn't teaching until 11PM but really by that time dinner has been given, eaten, and cleaned up. The girls are already in their jammies, and basically are just waiting to go to bed. So the cycle begins again. I wish I had a nanny to help out occasionally but that isn't going to ever happen so I'll just have to deal with each day as it comes. Goodbye Summer, Hello Fall... Try not to kick my ass ok!

Skates

Who can skate all by herself- Ava can!!

And then she took a fall and gracefully picked herself back up.
On the road again...
Livy gearing up.
Livy can skate pretty well all by herself. She is ready to head to the rink.

Friday Night A's Game

Bobble head night had appeared again on the calender. This was the last bobble head of the season and most likely the only game the four of us would attend this year. Dave and Olivia had gone to pick up the other bobble head earlier in the season but they didn't stay for that game. Knowing this would be a lot of work I can admit I wasn't exactly thrilled to be going but Dave really wanted us to go so I sucked it up and packed the bags with warm clothes, dinner, and snacks for everyone. It sounds like it should be a simple few tasks but when you're home alone with two kids running and screaming it is a little difficult to concentrate and make sure you remember to pack everything for everyone. Dave was still at work and going to be meeting us on the BART.

Once I gathered all the necessities and packed them into backpacks for each of us to carry we were on the road. The drive to the station was decent. Getting out of the truck, packing the stroller and stuffing Ava into it, and walking to the building with Liv pushing the stroller went smoothly. It was hotter than ever and I was sweating like a fat pig but that's really irrelevant. I was starting to feel like I could do this, I'm a strong independent woman, I don't need anyone to hold my hand and help me with my kids. We are alone together everyday 5 days a week. I cart them around everywhere. Why this journey seemed different I don't know. Most likely because I wouldn't have my vehicle to come back to for supplies if needed. Instead I was having to bring everything with me that we could possibly need for the next 5 hours.

So we walked up to the building sweating and what do we see... a freaking out of order sign on the elevator. How am I going to get Ava in a stroller up stairs? After some deliberation of how I really hate Dave at this point, I remove Ava from the stroller, make the girls hold hands and walk up the stairs while I carried the stroller. I was worried they would get to the top step and let go of each other and start running in different directions but they listened and stayed together. Phew. We made it. We also managed to figure out how to fit 2 people and a stroller through the ticket thing that opens and closes really fast. I was feeling really good about myself at this point. Then I noticed that the other elevator that takes you down to the trains is also out of order. Holy God. Could this really be happening? Dave hate-meter steadily on the rise. Why again are we going through all of this?

And then Dave appeared... with good timing I might add. He carried the stroller down the huge flight of stairs while I walked with the girls down and the train arrived one minute later. The ride out there was fun. The girls both love the train. We met Dave's friend at the Coliseum station and headed to the game.

As we all entered the ticket gates the attendant stopped Dave and said he needed a ticket for Ava. So Roman, Olivia, and I headed in, retrieved our bobble heads, and waited for Dave. Dave was given a ticket at work so he had only bought ones for Olivia and I. While we waited one of the attendants started talking to me about the A's and the promotions and then he asked me why we were standing there waiting. I explained how my husband needed a ticket for our 2 year old and he was back in line. The man, a retired sheriff of 30 years, asked what he looked like and what his name was because he had free tickets for him. A few seconds later there was the rest of my family with huge smiles on their faces toting their precious little bobble heads.

Here we are sitting in the field level seats. See the smiles on our faces.
That's because our seats are somewhere up in the nose bleed section.
But they don't know that. We found these seats in a prime location.

Then the attendant of that section walked over behind our seats and asked who had the tickets. I thought to myself- if I have to pack these kids back up, climb all those stairs, I think this will be the last day I ever come here again. But instead I pointed to Dave as the ticket holder even though they were blatantly sticking out of my pocket. The man asked Dave if these were his seats, Dave responded with a quick...I believe so... and we had arrived. Finally.

The A's ended up losing of course but the girls got to see Swiper and we all had our pictures taken and posted on the A's fan site. It was a do-able outing but I'm sure next year will be easier when the girls are a little older.

Panty Training Overnights...

Hooray Olivia!!!

She has had 5 naps and nights of total and complete dryness. I am amazed at how motivated Liv is to stay dry and be a BIG girl. Honestly, I was expecting a lot of accidents this past week and had prepared for the worst but how cool is it that that Olivia succeeded. Hopefully this dry streak will last forever if not a very long while to keep Olivia's confidence level rising. I think every time she wakes it up it encourages her to keep dry the next time. Congrats Livy to a great week!!

Mermaids

Last night the silly mermaid girls made the most out of their bath time with their babies.

Art Projects

Featured artwork created by: The Miss Olivia herself

Today was another cut and paste day and boy did Olivia love it. She couldn't wait to jump into the truck and tell me all about using the scissors. They also were given chocolate chip cookies for snack to go along with the theme of what they were cutting and pasting. Sounds like fun...

Today was also 'share day' so Liv brought with her a big Ariel doll and an alligator. She said she let other kids play with them and that she shared. Humm... I'll take her word for it.

Ava and I went to breakfast with a neighbor and ate some giant pancakes. It was refreshing because it was a neighbor I hardly ever see because she works all the time. Ava and I enjoyed ourselves and our special time together.

Fancy Artwork

The infamous fruit loop necklace.
Red Firemen denoting the letter "A" for the week.
Man created with scissors and glue... Olivia's favorite 2 things.

The good news is that Olivia had a great time at school. The bad news is that the toys and snacks she brings home infuriates Ava because Liv doesn't want to share. Can you blame her? No. But it still sucks to drive home and hear the whining of either, "Mommy, I don't want to share" or "Mommy, she's not sharing." Then come the tears, the fighting, and finally Olivia is forced to share and the world is a better place.

The Ickies & The Panties

The ickies have now been passed all around the house and Ava's nose is draining and sneezing, Dave has a sore throat, and Livy is still as slobbery and sniffley as she was on Friday. Sucks too because she will most likely have to stay home from school tomorrow and she is really looking forward to attending. I guess it comes with the territory... I haven't gotten the sickness yet but I'm sure it will hit me as soon as the girls both feel better and begin to be energetic again and run crazy. Sounds about right.

In other news, Livynut only had one accident since she began wearing her panties to bed. She's been really stoked about waking up in her panties and not having to take off her pull up in the morning. It's funny how simple things like this please kids. She is so proud of herself and we are very proud of her. If all goes well over the next month and the accidents are slim to none I guess I'll start having Ava sleep in her panties too. She already makes it through every nap with a dry pull-up so I might as well get her out of nighttime pull ups as well. I just don't want to start her now in case Olivia has frequent accidents and then I become overwhelmed with laundry. Plus if I wait too long it will be closer to winter and with more blankets and stuff on her bed I won't want to wash all of that bedding every time. So we will play it by ear and see where we end up later. If we have to wait for Ava until after her 3rd birthday and more towards next spring then that's just how things will have to be. One thing at a time. Day by day. We're makin' it.

Looking Good...

All is good so far with Olivia wearing her panties to bed. She happily ran down the hallway and into our room this morning shouting, "Look Mommy, I'm dry!!!" Way Cool. She was so proud of herself and we were too. Sadly, she still felt like crap from her 'ickies' she acquired yesterday so today after lunch I offered to her to wear the pull-ups so she could sleep soundly and not worry about urinating in her bed since she felt so miserable. "No Mommy, I a big girl and I want to wear my panties!" She proclaimed.

Ok then. That's what she wants, that's what she gets. And to our surprise she woke up dry after nap. It's been since Thursday afternoon and so far so good. I assumed stupid me that Livy wouldn't want to deal with this new arrangement today since she isn't feeling good but I was way wrong. She wants to be a big girl and that's that. Hopefully the accidents hardly if ever happen since I don't enjoy doing any more laundry than I have to do and the sheets and the quilt take up a whole friggin' load. I could go on and on about how we can' afford it either but that's for a different day.

I have given up coffee for a month or longer since Liv gave up the pull-ups. It's a team effort and we are getting over the hump together. It's been all right for me. I haven't drank any coffee since Wednesday. Why I chose to do this during my PMS storm is besides me but I guess no time would have been a good one. I felt kinda tired today during my jog but I managed to squeak out 2 miles nonetheless. We are going to make it... I know we will.

Taking The Next Step...

For a few weeks we have been charting the girls' wet/dry pull-ups when they wake from naps and in the morning. Both of them typically wake up dry at naps but Ava wakes up every other morning wet. Olivia has been waking up most mornings dry, not each and every day, but most. We've been talking a lot about Liv wearing her panties to bed now that she's a 'big girl' or better yet a 'schoolgirl'. She has said she wants to too so yesterday at nap and at night we gave it a try and both times she woke up dry.

So today I went and bought a few cheapo sheet sets and an extra quilt so if Liv has an accident in the middle of night we can strip the bed and remake it without actually having to go downstairs and begin the laundry. I'm hoping for the best and prepared for the worst. Liv is totally excited and growing up way too fast. I can't believe my little Livynut is a schoolgirl. I never realized how short of a time period you actually get as a parent to be home with your kids before they have to enter the world by themselves. Now I'm going to have to suck in as much as possible of Ava's essence before her year is up and she leaves for school too.

Man, time is ticking. Where did it all go? I'm thankful to be a stay at home mom and enjoy these few short years. I know it will be over before I know it so I will make the most of it and take the girls to all the museums, movie theaters, water parks, zoos, distant relatives houses, and exploring places as possible. It's been great that Dave gets to take days off here and there and go too. I like that he is hands on and sees for himself what the girls are up to and interested in. Lately they are into jogging so we have been going every night. It's too hot for me but they love it.

Well it is time to wake up Olivia. She has been napping since 1Pm and it is almost 4:30PM. I'm hoping she's dry and feeling better. She's got the ickies.

Art Project- Day 2

Liv painted the maracas and added glitter.
She colored the pizza all these different colors..

and she was given a new book to read at home!!!

If this wasn't great enough Livynut also had a wonderful transition to and from school without any attitude. While she was in school Ava and I went shopping and picked Liv up a brand new booster seat so when she climbed into the truck there it was waiting for her. She loved the ride home with her drink cup filled up and positioned in her holder and she explored the fancy reading lights. Had I thought about it sooner I would have taken her picture in it but I will do that over the weekend. She couldn't wait to get home though to show me all her new stuff in her backpack and tell me about her day. I'm feeling better and better about Livy going to school and I'm enjoying my one on one time with Ava. Phew.

Art Project- Day 1

Liv painted by herself

and used the scissors.

Why God? Why?

After going to preschool and coming home a punk for an hour Olivia finally returned to her normal self and joyfully told me all about her first day. We were happy and looking forward to daddy coming home to tell him all about it. She was excited to wear her new jammies to bed and things really looked like they had made a turn for the better until Olivia ate her last bite of food at dinner, drank a bunch of water, gagged herself and puked down the front of herself. Oh the roller coaster continues all the while I am trying desperately to maintain my PMS.

I cleaned the puke off of Olivia and put her clothes in the washing machine. Now she's naked of course so I told her to go to her room and wait for me and I'd be upstairs after I cleaned up the rest of the puke off of the chair. Minutes later I walk into her room to get her fresh clothes and she says, "here mommy it's pee pee." I'm like- Whaaat??? as I took the cup almost throwing it aside thinking it was empty and I was trying to get her dressed. Then I noticed it WAS full of pee. AND she spilled it all over the sheets, bedspread, and floor. Keep in mind I washed her entire bed set yesterday. I felt fire rise up inside of me. I dropped her clothes on the floor and told her I was leaving her room, she was staying in there, and in a few minutes her father would be home to talk to her.

I so wanted this to be a good day. Liv's first day of school should (I thought) be wonderful. But instead it was a disaster to the end. After Dave discussed not urinating in her toys or anywhere other than the potty she said she did it because she wanted to pee in the ice cream cone (another toy). She wasn't angry that she was sent to room. She didn't do it maliciously. Just curious... Oh that just makes it all ok then. It was a science experiment. Add sarcasm anytime.

To make matters worse she didn't nap either. The rule has been she has to go to bed at 7:30PM on no nap days and 8PM on days she naps. On her way to bed she overheard Dave saying to Ava that they were going to play the board game. Liv flipped out and sobbed for what seemed like ever... maybe 30 minutes. I went in and explained that's the rule on no nap days and Ava had slept. I also reminded her she doesn't get rewards for peeing in her room. She sobbed even more. I felt like a schmuck. Maybe we are punishing her too much. My mind went to the extremes but in reality it was her bed time above all else. She was just jealous of Ava.

After awhile Liv calmed down and told me that, "mommy, we don't pee in our room. Only in the potty mommy." So she was listening between all those bouts of protest. Thank God for small miracles.

Today has been a better day. I am still suffering from the cruel world of PMS but the girls have had a good day playing together without arguing and they ate their breakfast without any incidents. We've colored, read books, ate a snack, and now are enjoying the Tinkerbell movie. Ava has requested 'susgetti' for lunch and Liv wanted meatballs so I need to start preparing lunch.

Hopefully when we take Liv to school tomorrow Ava doesn't freak out when we have to leave and when we pick Liv up she doesn't come home with a split personality. I don't think I'm asking for much, other than I'd like to win the lotto too...

1st Day Of Preschool

I've been imagining this day in my mind for awhile now playing out every possible scenario always searching for the best possible outcome. Hopefully we wouldn't cry, Liv wouldn't suddenly attach herself to my leg and become my latest appendage, Ava wouldn't scream bloody murder because she has to leave the school with me while her sister stays.

What I didn't imagine in all of this time was that Olivia would march her yippy skippy ass up to the door, invite me in for a brief second to guide her to her seat, show her where to put her backpack, and then say goodbye with a smile and literally shut the door on me as I turned to leave. She could have cared less if I left. In fact she wanted me gone...gone... go home mom.

Then another mom prepared herself for departure and as she headed for the sliding glass door Olivia followed her. As soon as she landed on the first step out of the door, Olivia reached up, shut the screen door, the slider door, and then headed for her seat.

Livy was ready for preschool.

Ava and I weren't.

Dave had taken Ava back to the truck because we had a good feeling if we let her in the classroom she would have had a tantrum leaving. As we suspected we were right. As I round the corner of the preschool I could hear Ava crying in the distance.

We dropped Dave off at home so he could go to work. Ava and I did a little shopping and then headed home to wait for Olivia. We both just sat there kind of unsure what to do with ourselves. Finally it was time to go pick sissy up. Woo Hoo!

Oh we picked her up all right and a sassy little attitude to boot. She was furious when she discovered Daddy wasn't in the car, she complained for 45 minutes about wanting to go to his work, and repeatedly told me she did not want to talk to me, she was mad.

Is it going to be like this every time? Let's hope not.

She did recover from her issues and began to offer up the goods on what happened the first day. They used paint and scissors, were measured and weighed (42 1/2 inches tall and 37.4 pounds), played in the sand with tea cups, and just had fun. They also had their pictures taken and sang a song. Liv did say the teacher had to tell her no when she touched someones name tag on their chair, two of the boys pushed each other, and one girl cried when her mom left. AND Liv did say she was a little sad when I left so she called me on the screamer (speaker) phone. Awe that's my girl.

Don't You Wish You Had Fly Away Hair?

Rembrandt

Picasso

Umm Yea...

Who's a lucky dog to get a brand new dog bed just her size? Sugar of course!

Seconds later she traded up...You snooze you lose Lady... Awe too bad.

This is NOT a dog bed.

Game Night

We have finally reached the point in our lives that we can enjoy family game night. Super Dave was given a $10 gift card for B and N so since we are such avid readers I figured lets get something we'd actually use like a board game. The game is like BINGO and rated for kids ages 4-7 but Ava played just fine.

Here's Olivia collecting her game piece to put on her board...
And this is Ava's first win. She beat everyone and was super excited!!!


And how do the dogs always end up in our pictures? I swear they follow the camera around. In almost every family photo, Lady is somewhere in the background. I suppose now it is Sugar's turn to bring up the slack.