A Special Visit

Liezel is the first friend I made in Jacksonville and I truly don't know what I would have done without her.  She kept me company while Mike was deployed and helped me find my way around a new and unfamiliar city.  She didn't mind hanging out with a precocious fifteen month old Grace.  Grace absolutely adores her and I know Claire will feel the same way.  She introduced me to Peterbrooke chocolates.  When I was pregnant with Claire, she was my go-to girl  for any medical questions (Liezel is a labor and delivery nurse) and my sounding board for all my TMI, weird goings-on with my pregnancy.  She would even go with me to my ultrasound appointments when Mike was out to sea.

The list could go on and on and on.  In short, Liezel is a very important person to me and my family.  So much so that Mike and I asked her to be godmother to Claire.  And how special for Claire to have her godmother be there on the day of her birth and to have all those newborn tests done with her godmother by her side.

I was thrilled when Liezel told me she was coming for a visit.  She stayed with us for a few days and we did our best to show her around Williamsburg.  We went antique shopping, walked around Colonial Williamsburg, and ate at some not so impressive restaurants.  But in the end, I think my favorite thing was just hanging out on the couch in our pajamas catching up with each other.

As all visits are with great friends, it was entirely too short, but hopefully it won't be too long before we see our sweet Liezel again.

Saturday Playdate

We had a lovely little playdate this morning with a sweet girl and her family.  Grace is a year older than Concetta and Concetta's little brother is just a month older than Claire.  The babies played and the big sisters played.  And the adults had just as much fun.  It was a wonderful way to spend a rainy Saturday morning.

The rest of the day was spent getting the house in order for a special guest coming to visit tomorrow.  Our dear friend from Jacksonville, Liezel, is coming to visit for a few days and I am over the moon excited about being able to catch up with her.

Inseparable

These days my girls and I are inseparable.  Maybe it's out of necessity because with Mike's heavy school schedule and our lack of a regular babysitter, there isn't much choice.  But I'd like to think that even if there was a different option, we would still choose to hang out with each other.  I know that these days are fleeting and there will come a time soon enough when I will be the last person my girls want to hang out with.  I'm going to enjoy it while I can.

The one sure thing that will get Grace to peace out on me is going to the gym with Mike.  She has a group of friends there in the kiddie area that she loves hanging out with.  As we were out running a few errands, Mike called and asked if he should wait for us to get home so he could take Grace with him to the gym.  I told him I would drop Grace off and then run the rest of my errands.

Grace overheard the conversation and immediately began pleading to stay with me and help me run errands.  When I told her that she was going to the gym with her daddy, she immediately changed her attitude said, "Oh, okay then.  Have fun with your errands, Mama."

If only I was as excited to go to the gym, then I wouldn't have all this baby weight to worry about any more!

Movie Night

I enjoy special times when we will go out and do something special as a family, but my favorite things are just our everyday moments.  Like tonight.  My family sprawled out together on the floor watching a movie.  This is the kind of simple moment that will be in my memory forever.

We went to Redbox and rented two movies, one for our family time and one for our grownup's date night-in.  Our plan was to watch "Dolphin Tale" with the girls, put them to bed and then start our date night-in by snuggling on the couch, sipping our sparkling champagne (sparkling apple cider leftover from Valentine's Day), and watch "Taken Two."

Whereas I used to be able to do movie marathons and stay up until wee hours of the morning watching movie after movie, apparently, I'm only good for one movie a night now.  After I put Claire to bed, I went to my room to change into pajamas.  But the bed was calling my name so I went to go lie down for just a second while Mike finished up with work downstairs.  The next thing I know, it's the next morning.  (Really, 3 in the morning since Claire has yet to sleep through the night!).

I totally missed my date night.  I stood my poor husband up.  And to make me feel even more guilty, I woke up to a neat and tidy kitchen.  Since his date fell fast asleep, he went ahead and cleaned the kitchen!

On our next movie night, I'll have to remember to brew some coffee after dinner so I can make it all the way through.

Trying to Keep the Romance Alive

Mike and I promised each other that we would always put our marriage first.  After all, once the children are grown, it's just going to be the two of us again so we better make sure we're still sweet on each other when that time comes.

Still, it can be challenging to keep that promise when there are two little ones that require SO. MUCH. ATTENTION.  Don't get me wrong.  I gladly give my babies all the attention they want and need because they're only this little for such a short amount of time.  But at the end of the day, I'm so exhausted that the last thing on my mind is 'romance'.  Sleep is a precious commodity these days!

In this phase of parenthood, we may not be going out on as many date nights as we once did and I spend more time in raggedy pajamas covered in Cheerios and spit up than in sexy lingerie, but I still try and keep the romance alive.

This morning, I decided to send Mike a racy text message while he was at school.  A hint of things that might happen if I weren't so darn exhausted, he wasn't so stressed studying until 2 in the morning, and we didn't have a baby who still wakes up several times during the night.

I couldn't even enjoy my romantic moment for a minute before I was pulled back to reality.  Grace left her opened container of Aquaphor (an ointment with a Vaseline consistency) on the floor and Claire was having a good old time getting her hands in it and rubbing it on her face, hair, clothes, and carpet.

You can see all the mess on her hands and face if you look closely.

This was a nearly full container before Claire got a hold of it.

The other exciting event of the day was that the Blew girls came for a quick visit as they were passing through town.  Mike was kind enough to offer to babysit all 4 girls so that Julie and I could go out to lunch solo.

Costco Fun

 The highlight of our day was our trip to Costco.  The samples today weren't all that fantastic, but that didn't stop us from loading up our cart with all kinds of goodies- most that were on our shopping list, several that were not.  We just can't seem to leave that place without buying a few extra things that we didn't know we needed until we saw it there.

Claire enjoyed our outing and Grace was oblivious to it all as she played with her Leappad.  Then, as always, we ended our Costco outing with a meal in the 'picnic' area.  I love how the picnic tables even have umbrellas even though we are inside a huge warehouse building.  Ambience, I guess.  Claire didn't care one bit whether we were really having a picnic or not.  She was just thrilled that she got her first taste of pizza crust.  She is definitely her daddy's daughter.  The girl loves her pizza!

Trying out the new baby carrier.  Claire is now the weight that Grace was at two years old.  Carrying her in the Bjorn was killing my back and shoulders.  Hoping this new one makes things a little easier since the girl still insists on being carried all the time.

Saturday Reunions

 Saturday was all about reunions.  The girls were reunited with the grandparents and spent the day with them.  I had lunch with my friends from my teaching days and in the evening, a girl's night with my friends from my Japan days.

It was wonderful spending time and catching up with good friends.  And the girls had a blast with the grandparents, as always.

Quick little story- for some reason, Claire freaks out and starts crying when my mother-in-law puts on her reading glasses.  She takes it off and Claire is fine, but when Grandma wears them, Claire will have no part of her.  Weird, I know.  I wear glasses when I'm at home, too, but it doesn't seem to bother her in the least.

While Grace is an amazing big sister- sweet, helpful, and kind- she does have moments where the little green monster makes an appearance.  It's hilarious when Grace is jealous.  Her eyebrows knit together and she starts talking in a pouty way, usually saying something like, "No one is giving me any love.  Hmmph."

This time though, Grandma was reading a story to the girls while Claire sat on her lap.  Grace went and got Grandma's glasses, handed it to her and said, "Here, Grandma, put on your glasses," knowing full well that it would mean Claire wouldn't want to stay with her.

Sneaky, sneaky girl!  But gotta love her creative way of getting Grandma all to herself!

My Landstown crew!  

It's such a small world in the Navy! We all met in Japan and now we're all together again.

A Pajama Kind of Valentine's Day

We had a very laid back Valentine's this year.  In fact, it was so laid back the girls stayed in their pajamas for most of the day.

We started off this morning with an excited Grace giving us a wake up call by announcing, "It's Valentine's Day!"  She has been looking forward to Valentine's Day with almost the same level of excitement as Christmas.  Even though we had nothing special on the agenda for the day (hence the pajama wearing), I tried to make it memorable for my girls.

I surprised them with a table decorated with balloons, flowers, and a goody bag full of treats.

I let Grace eat pure sugar for breakfast- heart shaped donuts.

She was thrilled with the breakfast menu.  When I asked her what she wanted for lunch she said, "Chocolate.  Just chocolate."  A girl after my own heart! 

Grace said we couldn't forget about Daddy, "our special Valentine because he's our only boy".    I let her pick out his gift and she wanted to go to his favorite store, Jos A. Bank, to pick out a pink tie.  All of it completely her idea, including which store to go to.  I have no idea how she figured out his favorite store, but her logic for picking out his present was flawless- "He wears a tie all the time for school, so we'll get him one but in a Valentine color."

Claire checking out her stuff.

"Seriously, mama, this is all I get?!?  Some baby food wrapped in ribbon?"  Poor second child!

Another Late Night

It never fails that whenever Grace has a school party the following day, I am up way too late the night before working on a project or baking a treat.  I wanted Grace to really participate in making her Valentines for her classmates and teachers.  I made her write out her name on every single card and she helped me tape the picture onto the cardstock paper.  I thought that starting on them a week before they were due to be passed out was plenty of time.

I was wrong.  I finally sent her to bed an hour past her bedtime and I stayed up until one in the morning putting on the finishing touches.

When Grace woke up, she was so happy with the way they turned out that it made the late night worth it.  Although next year, I'm seriously going to contemplate store bought cards.

A special Valentine "delivered' by Grace.

Teacher gift

Another teacher gift.  It's socks rolled to look like a  frosted cupcake.   Grace and I thought it was cute.  Mike thought it  just looked like socks rolled up into a cup.

Grace was so excited about all the Valentines she received.

Daddy brought home a sweet treat for Claire, too!  She immediately dropped it on the floor and it broke into pieces, but she loved it all the same.

Back to the Gym

When we first moved to Williamsburg, Claire was 2 months old and I was determined to shed the baby weight quickly.  We found a great gym that had a babysitting service that took infants as young as 6 weeks old and immediately signed up for a two year contract.

But that was when our sweet Claire was a little cry baby.  Literally.  You wouldn't know it seeing our cheerful little cutie now, but back then was another story.  She would cry inconsolably if she wasn't in my arms.  Mike and I would go to the gym and one of us would inevitably get called to the baby room because they couldn't get her to calm down.

When Claire was 4 months old, she worked herself up so much that she threw up all over the babysitter.  I don't mean a little spit up either.  The poor young lady was covered in Claire's throw up.  I was mortified.  And I haven't been back to the gym since.

Until today.  Since Claire has mellowed quite a bit since then and her stranger anxiety is a thing of the past, I decided it was time to go back to the gym.  As I was grapevining my way through a Zumba class, I prayed that Claire was behaving herself.

When I went to pick her up, the babysitter, who was the same one that Claire got sick on five months ago, told me she was a happy little baby who behaved so well.  Success!

Now I have no more excuses.   Time to shed the weight equivalent of Claire!

Nothing But Goodness

Mondays are always hard on just about everyone, but it was especially challenging for me today  because Claire decided that 5 AM was a good time to get up for the day.  And you would think that an extra early wake up would mean some really good naps later in the day.  Nope.  Not my baby girl.  I'm blessed with many, many things, but children who like to sleep is not one of them.

After getting Grace off to school with her Daddy, I tried to be productive, but all I managed to do was turn my upstairs hallway and bedroom floors into disasters with piles of sorted laundry waiting to be washed.  My little Miss Crankypants required my full attention and laundry sorting was about all she would let me do.

And wouldn't you know, Claire finally fell asleep later that morning.  About ten minutes before we had to pick up Grace from school.

The only other noteworthy event was that I made dinner tonight.  (Lemon orzo chicken soup, in case you were wondering.)  As we were sitting in the playroom watching the girls play, Mike said that my hair smelled like food.  Yes, it smells like that because I cooked you a meal, buddy!  So romantic, isn't he?  This is the same guy who used to call me beautiful every time he spoke to me on the phone.  He tried to tell me it was a compliment because he loves food.  Nice try.  Now he owes me a night out at a nice restaurant.

Thankfully, my sweet girl came to my rescue and when her daddy asked her to smell mama's hair and tell him what it smelled like, she said, "Nothing but goodness!"

Borrowing big sister's microphone.  She danced and lip synced along to Dora's song.

Claire's also a big fan of the dollhouse.  She likes to try and eat the furniture.

Go ahead and eat first, Daddy

Our usual Sunday morning routine is this- Claire wakes up and I bring her into my bed hoping to nurse her back to sleep so Mike and I can sleep in for just a little bit longer.  It's all for naught because Grace comes creeping into our room and climbs into our bed a few minutes later.

When Mike and I were newlyweds and bought our queen size bed, we thought it was huge and had plenty of room.  Add two little girls to the mix and there's not much room at all.  Not that I'm complaining.  Having all four of us just lounging in bed, greeting each other with good morning kisses, and laughing at Claire as she attempts to crawl all over us is one of my most favorite things in the world.

Then, since sleeping in is no longer an option, Mike will go downstairs and make a pancake breakfast for us.  After breakfast, there is a mad dash to get everyone ready and out the door so we can make it in time for  the 9:00 Mass.  Most of the time, we're successful.  But I definitely feel like my mother when I have to put my makeup on in the car.  She used to do the same thing when I was little and I always used to wonder why.  Now I know.  With two kids to get ready, there's just never enough time!

After church, Mike went to school to get some studying done and I took the girls to the movies.  The only kid movie out right now is "Wreck-It Ralph".  Not exactly Grace's girly kind of movie, but I was trying to bribe her with something since I wouldn't be able to take her to a birthday party in Virginia Beach as planned.  I wasn't feeling 100% yet and since Mike couldn't come with us, I didn't think I'd be able to handle the two girls at a skating party.

We ended up loving the movie!  It was really cute!  Claire did awesome after the first half hour when she fell asleep for the rest of the movie.  The first thirty minutes were a little nerve wracking though since she didn't want to honor the 'silence is golden' rule.

The rest of the day we spent just hanging out and waiting for Mike to come home.  When it looked like it would be a really late night for him, I bathed the girls and got them ready for bed.  Then Mike called and said he was on the way home so I told Grace I would postpone her bedtime for a little bit until Daddy could come home and read her a bedtime story.

When Mike came home, Grace immediately asked him if he would read her a bedtime story.  After he said he would, she very sweetly told him, "Go ahead and eat first, Daddy."

It took us a couple of minutes to realize that she wasn't really that concerned whether Mike ate dinner or not; she just wanted to postpone bedtime so she could finish watching a show on TV.  It's kinda scary to think that she already knows how to work her parents.  Secretly though, I think Mike is a little proud that she was smart enough to think like that.  I'm just concerned that if she can think like this at 4 years old, what more when she's fourteen?

While big sister is enjoying her bedtime story, this one would rather make a mess of the books.

Twenty-five, six

 Grace's Statue of Liberty pose is for her Valentine's Day card.  I saw this idea on Pinterest where you take a picture with this kind of pose and make it look like you're personally handing a lollipop to your Valentine.  I showed it to Grace and she thought it was hilarious.   She giggled and assured me that her friends would LOVE it.  She had fun posing and was fairly patient with me as I tried to get the shot right.  The candy bribe I offered her at the end when her interest started to wane didn't hurt, either.

Thanks to my dear husband, I was able to squeeze in some 'me' time this morning.  Despite his full study schedule, he urged me to leave the girls with him so I could go out and do a little window shopping at this store I've been dying to check out.  Maybe it was the look of crazy (or haggardness?) starting to creep into my face from the lack of alone time lately, but I'm grateful for that hour of time to do whatever I please.

After lunch, I put Claire down for her nap and let Grace skip hers so I could take her to the park.  I have been promising to take her, but the weather has not been cooperative lately.  Even though it was sunny today, it was still a bit chilly.  But I'm glad we went together- just the two of us.  Although she adores her baby sister, I think a part of her misses having me all to herself every once in a while.  We finished our time out together with a quick trip to Target and on the way back home she said, "See, Mama?  Isn't it so much easier with just one kid?"

Later, we played cash register where we go shopping around the playroom and then check out with the cashier.  I told Grace I wanted to purchase Claire.  So she scanned her, thought about it for a few seconds, and then told me she cost, "Twenty-five, six."

Considering she can only consistently count up to the twenties so far, that's pretty expensive and I told her so.  She said, "Well, she's my baby sister!  I love her!"

See, Claire?  How much does your big sister love you?  Twenty-five, six dollars worth!  And to her sweet, newly four year old self, that's priceless!

TGIF

TGIF- thank goodness it's Friday!  I don't know what it was about this week, but it just seemed extra long to me.  I'm glad the weekend is here.  Mike will be busy studying for exams next week, but there's just something about Saturdays and Sundays that make me happy no matter what we've got on the agenda.

We had a little playdate at 'King Burger' (Burger King), as Grace likes to call it, today with a classmate from school.   Grace had a blast playing and I enjoyed an hour of adult conversation with a sweet lady.  Then we hit up another Dollar Store and bought our materials for one of our Valentine's Day projects.  Afterwards it was straight home so everyone, including me, could take naps.  Mike beat us to it when we got home and found him passed out on the couch.  Poor thing has been under the weather since earlier this week.   And now I'm not feeling so hot, but I'm trying to ignore it because we all know mamas don't get to take sick days.

When we woke up from naps, I made dinner, which consisted of heating up leftover chicken noodle soup and making a batch of *pigs in a blanket.  Please don't judge my menu.  My family's lucky I actually made something.  I was this close to going out and ordering from a drive-thru somewhere.   That or making my family eat cereal for dinner.

The rest of the night was laid back.   Grace and I worked on Valentine's gifts for her teachers.  Claire tried to steal our materials.  Mike studied in his office.  Exciting times around here!  But my family is under the same roof, we are safe and warm despite the cold outside, and our bellies are full- all blessings that I don't like to take for granted.

My taking of imperfect pictures continues!  But there's something about this that I love- Mike and Claire laughing and Grace being ever so patient about her baby sister pulling her hair.  

Trying to keep our materials out of Claire's curious hands!

*Grace does not like the name 'pigs in a blanket' for the croissant wrapped mini sausages so we tried coming up with alternatives like 'turkeys in a towel', 'fish in a bowl', 'dogs in the house', and 'cats in a cradle'.  Cats in a cradle won out.

Valentine's Day Prep

Valentine's Day is a week away and this year I really have to up my game.

Not for Mike.  Most years he's not even around on Valentine's Day.  And this year, Valentine's Day falls smack dab in the middle of his exams so it will be just like he's not here.

And it's not for Grace, either.  Usually, I make heart-shaped pancakes for breakfast, we go out to a bakery and pick out a cupcake as our special treat, and that's pretty much the extent of our Valentine's Day celebration.  I know, I know- kinda lame, but when you've got Christmas followed by her birthday the next month, and then Valentine's Day a couple of weeks later- by that time I'm pooped and all out of creative ideas.

What's different this year is that Grace goes to school.  That means exchanging Valentines with her fellow classmates and getting presents for her teachers.  I don't want to embarrass the poor girl on her first Valentine's Day exchange by sending her to school with something uninspired.

So I've been scouring Pinterest for creative and fun (yet easy and cheap!) Valentine ideas.  There are so many ideas swirling around in my head that I still don't have a clue what to do.  We wandered the aisles at the Dollar Store, Target, and Walmart.  Every brainstorming idea I tossed out at Grace, she loved.  And now I'm in trouble because she thinks that every idea is a project in the making.

Thankfully, my girl is pretty easy to please so I think whatever we come up with will be a hit.  At least with her.  And really, that's all that matters to me.

Enjoying a lovely picnic in the playroom.

How terrible is it that when Claire fell into her toy basket, our first reaction wasn't to help her out, it was to run and  get the camera to snap a picture?

Perfect Day, Imperfect Pictures

I love being a stay at home mom.  I truly feel blessed to be able to stay home with my babies.  But that's not to say that every single day is perfect.  There are days when I can't wait for Mike to get home so I can say, "Tag, you're it!" and get myself some 'me' time.  Even if it's just a trip to Food Lion to get a gallon of milk.

Today, though, was absolutely perfect.  No, I didn't get through all of the laundry.  The floors didn't get vacuumed.  My office that I've been meaning to organize is still in shambles.

But my sweet, yet high maintenance baby girl who almost never, ever naps during the day took two glorious one hour naps.  And she went to bed tonight without a single sound of protest.

My girls and I laughed and laughed today!  Claire is getting to be at that age where she is starting to interact with her big sister and Grace is loving it!  They played choo-choo train around the house while I was instructed to sing the choo-choo train song ("All aboard the choo-choo train, all aboard the choo-choo train!  All aboard, all aboard!  Choo-choo!").  I happily obliged, of course, and my heart was bursting with love and happiness to see my babies loving and playing with each other.

This is the reason why even though I am woefully behind on the blog- (I am still in the process of updates, I promise!)- I am not going to delay any longer.  I don't want to miss out on these little moments any more.  They seem insignificant because sometimes life gets a bit routine, but these little moments are the ones I'm going to miss one day.  And I'm afraid if I don't document them now while they're happening, they're going to fade from my memory.  I barely remember what I did yesterday!

These pictures I took today may not be the best quality (so blurry!), but they still do their job of reminding me what a perfect day I had with my babies.

Playing choo-choo train. 

Baby girl is getting so big!