Catching up, briefly

I'm going to be brief, because the thought of trying to recap all of November and December is entirely overwhelming and unappealing to me right now! Sounds trite, but family and fun are pretty good summations. We had Thanksgiving in Florida, then some Christmas chaos, some respiratory ailments (those actually were not fun, surprise surprise), and Christmas in Virginia. I'll let these fantastic pictures taken by my talented sister-in-law speak for themselves and cross my fingers that 2014 will bring with it more motivation to regularly blog.

Halloween and a getaway

For all the build-up in Emery's little mind about Halloween, I think it lived up to its fame. For weeks, even months, she was certain she would be her "blue ballerina," which is her favorite dress-up costume that she wears nearly everyday. I wasn't about to tell her that most kids get new costumes or have their moms make them something!

Handing out candy was almost as much fun, if not more, than peddling for some herself, though encounters with scary masks forced Emery to cover her eyes while still graciously offering a Kit Kat.

Then, over the weekend, Matt and I were able to get away for a night while Grammie tended to the girls. We did quite a bit of hiking and I felt quite a bit pregnant catching my breath up the hills. I also felt quite a bit pregnant when my chicken salad sandwich at lunch just wasn't good enough (I'm sure it was fine!) and I sent it back to the kitchen with no appetite for a re-do and then pouted at my lunch of french fries.

The fall colors were glorious, as was the peace and quiet and what seemed like a decadent number of extra hours to sleep, considering that we turned the clocks back on Saturday night AND traveled to the Central Time Zone! Now that's a 24-hour vacation worth repeating.

So close

I dropped the girls off at the gym's childcare this morning while I went for a run. When I returned to pick them up, the childcare workers said, "You should see her! (Anna Kimball) She took 12 steps!"

Woah. I've seen her take two steps here and there in the past week or so, but not 12! She's definitely not off and running yet and had only one other instance of consecutive steps today, but I would certainly say that we are so close to the real deal.

In other news, we took a little day trip to Bryson City, NC this weekend to see the fall colors. I was initially told by my dear husband that our destination was about two hours away ... let's just say it's a good thing I grabbed some DVDs at the last minute because two hours was really four. (in his defense, our return trip, via a different route, was much shorter) In my defense, I wanted a chance to actually enjoy the fall colors, too - not entertain two children with while getting a crick in my neck and an ache in my head.

But thankfully we had our new Routan minivan to deliver us to our destination, complete with a drop-down DVD player and headphones that the girls could actually use. We would up having a great time seeing some new things, eating out together, which we rarely do as a family, and making the most of autumn's beauty.

I love how this shot depicts our way home - Emery was pretty much no-maintenance with DVDs and a nap ... Anna Kimball, though, quickly tired of digital entertainment, wasn't really even that excited about finally facing forward in her car seat and eventually made sure we knew it. Nevertheless, the trip was a great success and one we'll surely repeat.

These days ...

Anna Kimball still isn't walking (20 months and nearly 30 pounds, OUCH), but is scaling everything, her favorite mountain being Emery's Tripp Trapp high chair which is particularly precarious and apparently really fun to climb. Somehow she has the good sense to mainly climb in when Emery is not around, perhaps knowing this could incite a wee bit of jealousy and "SHE'S IN MY SEAT!!" Anna Kimball is also obsessed with standing on stools. So now I have two full-time kitchen "helpers."

Emery is attending ballet class and seems to like but not love it. I almost loathe it since the whole experience is 90 minutes door-to-door on Friday afternoons in the height of traffic and I don't even get to watch her! And I'm quite certain she just stands there while all the other girls dance around ... she's not a big participator in situations like this. In the spirit of being positive, I'm sure it's been a good experience for her in some way and I'm sure we'll all be grateful to get our free Friday afternoons back in 4 weeks.

Emery loves her little co-op preschool on Wednesdays and Parent's Day Out on Thursdays. So happy I can leave her and Anna Kimball for that matter, too, in situations like these and we don't deal with separation anxiety. I think Anna Kimball enjoys a little break from her older sister, too. Though she adores her, currently all Emery has to do is look at her funny and Anna Kimball simply can. not. take. it. Commence SCREAMING. Commence me trying not to scream as well.

Lots of bread baking going on, too. I think I just like the feeling of having something tangible to show for my day, something I put my hands to and was good, sometimes even great, not just a work in progress as these girls, sweet as they are, seem to be.

Outnumbered!

Come March 20, 2014 (or thereabouts), the adults in this house will be outnumbered!

Are we scared? Sometimes. Excited? Yes. Going to find out the gender ahead of time? No. Matt's already outnumbered anyway. :) We'll take what we get!

A post without pictures

Yikes, it's been more than a month since I last posted. I think one reason I delay posting is because I feel that in order for it to be a worthwhile post, it must have many fantastic pictures. Which means I need to take those pictures. And harder still, find the patience to load them onto my computer, a process which always seems mind-numbingly laborious to me, probably because it reminds me of how disorganized my pictures are and how I have way too many on my phone and laptop and I really need a backup solution in case either device ever crashes ... etc. etc. etc.

As I type, Anna Kimball is screaming her head off in her crib, which is new for us. Emery never did this and we thought that was normal. Maybe now I'm beginning to realize that Anna Kimball is the normal one who occasionally and vigorously protests bedtime and Emery is from Mars.

The girls have been playing together more frequently these days and with a touch more peace and harmony. I love this development and though I sometimes feel sorry for Anna Kimball having to deal with Emery snatching her toys so often, I realize she's very fortunate to have someone to play with in the first place.

Emery starts ballet next week. I don't have grand hopes for her to adore it or for this to become her life's passion. She'll likely be reserved and spend more time watching everyone else prance around than doing the moves herself. I just can't wait to see her in a leotard, tights and slippers every week!

OK, time to console AK. Which never works, so why do I try???

And I lied. Here is an irresistible picture of our ballerina.

To Michigan and back

As usual, we headed up to Michigan for the 4th of July week. This year we drove and leaned heavily on digital entertainment for keeping the girls quiet and happy during the 10-plus hour drive. I decided that portable DVD players and iPads are like epidurals - though generations previous never had them and got along fine without, if they could do it over again, they'd take the DVD player ... and the epidural.

I'm happy to say the girls did wonderfully in the car. In fact, I think they even have been whining more at home this week than they did in the car. What's that all about? Isn't there some kind of "everything is new again and I'm going to be happy and easily entertained at home for a least a week" thing that's supposed to happen when you get home from vacation?

I guess not. Anyway, here are a few snapshots of our week:

This was taken almost as soon as we arrived - we simply moved Anna Kimball from the prison that was her carseat into an almost equally torturous lifejacket ... and she didn't mind one bit! So happy to be outside and on the water I think.

Chairs are a BIG obsession these days ...

Stopping for a sweet treat ...

On this cool, rainy afternoon I went down to the little beach Matt's parents have set up by the lake and found Emery in nothing but her underwear singing "Jesus Loves Me" to a pile of sand. Totally normal, right?

Our bottomless pit adored our favorite restaurant in Fenton, demolishing her french toast faster than you can say "We love Michigan in the summertime!"

The water table provided plenty of entertainment and also helped Anna Kimball with standing and sitting on her own.

All of us!

Other highlights of the trip included Anna Kimball learning to climb up and down the stairs, and then realizing she would rather be carried since all that climbing is too much work, finishing strong in the Fenton Firecracker 5K only to be bested by a high school freshman who sprinted past me at the end, getting an overnight with Matt at the Detroit Athletic Club, enjoying my first cronut and eating way too much ice cream. Or wait, maybe that's not possible?

We're a little delayed

 ... and not just with Anna Kimball's walking. Emery has been in a big girl bed for more than a year now. Granted it is a BIG big girl bed that takes a little care to get in and out of (i.e. climbing onto a bean bag at the end of the bed).

Still, Emery has been capable of doing so for some time now. But never once has she gotten out of bed during nap time or at night. She always waits for me to come get her.

Last night, though, her loud crying woke me up and I was puzzled as to why it was so loud. I rushed to her room only to find her right by her door, weeping that she wasn't tired and couldn't sleep.

I realize this is par for the course when it comes to having children. I only laugh that it took Emery this long to figure out her independence. And will now prepare myself for the night in the not-too-distant future that she actually makes it all the way to MY bed to announce her insomnia.

Strawberry picking

We are in Charlottesville right now, soaking up as much Henny and Papa/cousin/R&R time as we can. This little visit has come on the heels of the first three-day stretch Matt and I have had apart from the girls ... ever. And when it was just Emery, we only went away on two separate occasion for less than 24 hours each time.

Clearly, this trip was overdue. And is it bad to say that I wasn't really ready to come back?

Anyway, back to strawberry picking.

Poor Anna Kimball couldn't really participate since picking strawberries does require walking legs. She was a good sport, though, and was rewarded by some strawberry ice cream at the end. 

Will scoot for ice cream.

(Must credit my talented sister-in-law for these amazing pics!)

Miscellaneous

Whenever we go to Whole Foods, we try to park by the same bench that's right under a speaker. Usually there's some fairly upbeat music playing and Emery has gotten into the habit of wanting to dance on the bench while I pack the groceries into the car. I'm finding this so comical these days, especially since I know her little antics won't last forever.

Anna Kimball, well, she's been giving me a few gray hairs recently. She fell off Emery's bed a few weeks ago and it's taken her a very long time to get back on her feet again, quite literally. Just when I was about to take her in for x-rays, she started bearing weight on her left foot again, much to my great relief. She's still nowhere close to walking, so she gets her thrills in other ways ... this week, the playground swing just made her morning.

I don't have any pictures of this, but Anna Kimball is also in the stage where she points at everything. So when I go to get her from her crib in the morning or after nap, she immediately points at the door. I don't know why I find this so endearing - maybe it's because her pointing is silent, unaccompanied by whining or long-winded demands ... though let it be said, she finds plenty of other opportunities to show me her displeasure throughout the day! Maybe it's because I love realizing that she actually knows what she wants and can communicate it and that even though she still seems like a baby in so many ways, she is growing up!

Our living room has a new name

According to Emery, our living room is actually the "fairy room ballroom." She's been referring to the living room as such for a few weeks now and I can't help but laugh as I find myself quite seriously referring to it as such, too. As in "would you like to read your stories in the fairy room ballroom?" Or "go check the fairy room ballroom for (fill-in-the-blank) that is lost."

Apparently life in the fairy room ballroom is rather exhausting (as is a temper tantrum that kicked things off to a great start that morning) - Matt found her asleep like this shortly before her nap a few Saturdays ago.

Yesterday I was getting a little desperate for ways to entertain Anna Kimball, or rather ways for her to entertain herself, so I pulled out a big basket of toiletries and hoped for no peppermint oil baths on the bed, contact solution in the hair or soap in the throat. The result? No disasters and blissful baby, which makes for a very merry mama.

All I have to say about this one is ahhhh ... 

Thankful Wednesday

Lots to be thankful for these days ... here's a sampling:

Our neighbor is getting MAJOR work done on our shared driveway (so yes, we reap the benefits) and it's been a toddler boy's dream over here everyday for at least three weeks now, with every kind of truck and machine imaginable putting on a show for us outside the playroom window. I suppose if I had boys I would be even MORE thankful, because the girls are beginning to lose interest in the action, but hey, it was good entertainment there for a while.

A husband who will let his little girl pretend to curl his eyelashes.

Sister hugs ... ahhhh

Some progress, bit by bit, when it comes to Anna Kimball's gross motor skills. Apparently she has low muscle tone, which explains why she is nowhere close to walking, or even pulling up on her own ... yet, she's showing small improvements week by week and we are proud of her!

Ballerinas! Need I say more?

A dear friend who loaned us loads of clothes for Emery to wear this summer. And all of them are so darn cute!

Finally a solution to the sun being in the girls' eye on our morning walks. A tent ride!

A new cover on our wingback chair makes all the difference in the living room. (I should also be thankful for Anna Kimball's return to health, as well as Emery's - they have both been sick sick sick this last week and I am so thankful/hopeful that we are through the worst of it?!)

A little streak of free-thinking from Emery, who is normally uber-compliant ... it was actually kind of nice to see her throwing some caution to the wind and decorating herself with markers.

The prelude to "why?"

Emery hasn't hit the "why?"stage yet, but I'm almost wishing it would come and save us from this:

Emery - "What are you doing?"
Me - "Scrubbing the stain off this shirt."
Emery - "What are you doing with scrubbing the stain off the shirt?"
Me - "Huh?"

Emery - "What are you doing?"
Me - "Moving the stroller upstairs."
Emery - "What are you doing with moving the stroller upstairs?"
Me - "Huh?"

Emery - "What are you doing?"
Me - "Trying to fix __ (fill in the blank with whatever is broken)"
Emery - "What are you doing with _ (fill in the blank with whatever is broken)"
Me - "AHHHH!"

***

On an unrelated note, though also comical (and messy), Emery's favorite activity in the kitchen these days is to play with the garlic. She peels off all the little shreds of papery garlic peel, puts them in cups and serves them as tea, soup, you name it. Or places an entire bulb (with a small potato for good measure) in Anna Kimball's empty water cup, insisting that she bring it with her in the car.

Though I do get a bit aggravated at seeing the garlic peels everywhere I turn in the kitchen, the germaphobe in me is glad to to see that she's found a kitchen activity that doesn't contaminate our food (she never seems to make it all the way down to the actual garlic clove) and the chef in me is happy to see that she's making herself at home in the kitchen.

Anna Kimball, on the other hand, might just prefer water to garlic next time.

Emery is three!

This past week we celebrated Emery's third birthday and I made the sacrifice of all sacrifices by baking her a "banilla" cake with "banilla" frosting (banilla as in vanilla, not some combination of banana and vanilla, instead of chocolate as I would have liked). Because let's be honest - who's going to be eating the leftovers, Emery or me?

Well, to my great surprise, Emery declared the cake "too yummy" and barely made a dent in her piece, while I developed a newfound appreciation for the true flavor of vanilla unsullied by the distraction of chocolate. Not that I'm going to be requesting a banilla cake for my birthday or anything, but let's just say I have definitely enjoyed the leftovers.

See here the birthday girl digging into her turkey meatloaf and broccoli, which I guess aren't "too yummy."

Backing up a bit, our morning started with some present opening at the breakfast table and the jewelry box from her cousins was quite a hit.

As was the Cinderella carriage CD player from Henny and Papa ...

Not to mention the real Cinderella movie, her first full-length movie to sit through! It came as a nice break amid the chaos of a birthday morning ... as well as a nice way to cap off the chaos of the day itself.

                                 

Later we headed over to Volkswagen to have lunch with Daddy and Emery proudly marched through the parking lot with her new butterfly cage / purse. It's pictures like this one that remind me she will only be a little girl for a very little while!

Our valiant attempts at a decent family photo ...

Back in the car with the butterfly catcher / Emery catcher ...

The cake that was "too yummy" and definitely screams homemade, which we shared with some neighborhood friends in lieu of full-blown birthday party ...

 Ta-da! Emery is THREE!