Sleep is for the birds

I get entirely too little sleep these days. Usually, when the kids go to bed at 8, I lie down on my bed to read until I turn the light off at the late hour of 9 pm.

Tonight, Jeremy lured me downstairs with the promise of So You Think You Can Dance. I wasted time reading blogs and watching the TV when I heard the pitter patter of little feet around 8:40. Carolyn snuck out of bed to try and join us downstairs with the TV. I took her little hand and marched her back into bed. We heard a couple of whines and wails intermittently, but then all was silent.

It was so nice to read things on the internet without anybody sitting on my lap. So I stayed up, wasting my precious sleep time away reading about new recipes and civil rights infractions in Burma. I couldn't bring myself to go to bed because the sooner I went to bed, the sooner I would have to get up to nurse.

Finally, around 10:40, I told Jeremy I was packing it in. I couldn't delay it anymore, and I knew I would be feeling the pain tomorrow. I hate feeling sluggish. We were getting ready for bed and I told Jeremy I wanted to peek in on Carolyn. It's so easy to do these days because she sleeps with her door wide open. I tiptoed down the hallway to catch a glimpse of her body burrowed into her blankets.

Instead, behold photographic evidence that Carolyn is in fact my daughter. If the lack of concern about hairstyle didn't prove it as my mom tried to point out here, then this should:

Don't let the flash from my camera fool you. She was working on her masterpiece by the dim light from her nightlight. (And yes, we let her sleep in her play clothes. It's so not worth the fight.)

I can't even count the number of times after my parents thought I was in bed that I would get a book and read until it was way too late. Of course, let's hope her imitation stops there and doesn't progress to sneaking to friend's houses when she gets older. (Sorry, Mom!)

Now I'm blogging so I stay up long enough to make sure she is really sleeping before I go to sleep myself. You know what I love more than being tired in the morning? Being tired with tired children. It's the best.

Is this really fun, Carolyn?

Early Birthday Girl

We purchased Carolyn a bike for her birthday and were storing it at her cousins' house. We wanted to wait until June. Then I took her out on her little push car for a walk. She couldn't actually move her legs so they weren't dragging on the ground. I realize I am not describing this very well, but it looked very uncomfortable. So we decided to give her the present early so she could work on learning to do the pedals.

Here she is finding it. Her joy is a little understated.

It will take some time to help her figure out the pedals, but once she does I know she will love it.


And as usual, Blake stayed parked in his stroller while we were outside helping Carolyn. He's such a happy baby.

For your listening pleasure

Carolyn made it obvious when I was filming Blake that she is more of an in-front-of-the-camera girl. She wanted to put on a little show.

And he's off...

Blake rolled front to back a few weeks ago, but yesterday he learned to roll back to front. And he hasn't stopped since. I'll have to start making Carolyn keep her crayons picked up and all that other baby safety stuff.

Here's a link to the video. Blogger hates the videos from my camera.

Tulip Fest

We headed to the tulip festival yesterday. The weather was wonderful and the flowers were beautiful. These purple ones were my favorite.

Blake stayed right here in the stroller the whole time.

But Carolyn got to cheese for me all over the fields. She fits in this little shoe...

she's a cute tulip...

and she sure makes those tulips look nice.

Her favorite part of the day was riding the shoe train. I think this is the first time she went on something like this by herself. Well, Rachel, Emilee, and Chandler were all in different shoes, but Carolyn rode by herself. She had so much fun with it.

Look long and hard because you will probably never see this again

UPDATE: Apparently I need to clarify: I did her hair. It's adorable. She took it out in less than five minutes.

Monkey See, Monkey Do

A few months ago I posted this picture


showing that Carolyn understood the idea that I had a baby in my tummy.

At the time, someone (I think it was Mom) thought it looked like she was trying to nurse the baby. Please. If Carolyn were trying to nurse her baby doll, it would look more like this:

Blake

Easter Party

Jeremy came up with this great idea to let Carolyn have an Easter party. He thought it would be fun to host an egg hunt for her and some of her good friends. And then he asked her if she would like to do that. So, as you can imagine, for two weeks we have heard of nothing but this party. "Is my party today? How many more naps until my party? Is Arys coming to my Easter party?"

Finally, the day came and this was how Carolyn felt about it:

(This is trying to repress giddy laughter.)

We had dinner together...
...and you should hear a table of young kids telling jokes. It's hilarious!
Here are the little hunters getting ready to find some eggs!

Post-hunt enjoyment:


Here are the children trying to blow dry the dyed eggs so they could put their stickers on.

We eventually just got out a real blow dryer so we could hurry and finish. There needed to be time to watch Bolt. The kids watched the movie until the parents could come back and get them. That's right. This was a drop-off party.

Special thanks to Elyn who kept Blake happy all night. She stayed when she realized that Jeremy wasn't going to be able to make it home from work in time to help. She was a great help.


Here's Carolyn's basket at the end of the night.


Of course, this morning her basket is empty. She made quick work of it--just in time to refill it at the neighborhood hunt in a couple of hours.

Cookies with Carolyn

Courtesy of Grandma and Grandpa Horner, Carolyn had the opportunity to decorate some sugar cookies for Easter.

She invited a friend over and they went all out. I believe it was one spoon of sugar in the mouth for every two on the cookies.

I think the cookies turned out great.

Thanks, Grandma and Grandpa!

Kelly comes to town

Kelly came to visit with her brand-new fiance, Mike. We had a great time. Saturday we took them to Five Guys and had burgers.

This is Carolyn's outfit for the big outing. You can't see them very well, but she let me put barrettes in her hair. One Elmo and one Big Bird. We're making progress.



After lunch, the guys stayed home and played Wii, while Kelly and I went and did some fancy shopping at Target. Carolyn needs all new clothes for spring. The shorts all have a nice 1.5 inch inseam though. We got one pair to see how they would look. I think we are going to follow through with my threat and make her wear Blake's newborn pants for shorts. She did it all day yesterday and they fit fine.


Sadly, this might be the first picture of me with Blake since his blessing day.

Of course, what is a trip to see friends without cookies? We ate them while watching Seven Pounds with Will Smith. Weird, but interesting.
Kelly and Mike left Sunday to return to Seattle. We hope to see them again soon.

P.S.: The beautiful roses aren't mine. They're Angel's.

P.P.S.: Blake rolled over yesterday. From his tummy to his back. We are still waiting to see if it was an accident or on purpose.

So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodbye

It's been a lovely 3.5 years, Deloitte, but it's time for Jeremy to move on. He really enjoyed the continual 70-hour work weeks, and he sure loved seeing his kids only on the weekends. He knows you tried hard. He did appreciate the vacation time given to help him recuperate after 5 hard months. And El Gaucho was nice too. But really, it's you, not him. He's ready for something new. Thanks anyway.

Starting Monday, Jeremy will be working at Standard Insurance in their SEC reporting division. He is really excited about this new opportunity. I am too. I hear that the people who work at Standard eat dinner with their families!

The dangers of being a well-behaved child

We went to a going away party for a family in Carolyn's nursery class tonight. She had so much fun, but it was a bit of a hassle wrangling her out the door. I finally got her off the climbing structure and over to say goodbye to her friend. Since we were off the toys, I thought it would be best to head straight for the exit and make a clean getaway. At the door an employee was comparing stamped hands to make sure I wasn't stealing any children. I would never steal someone's child. But I will forget one of my own. Maybe the calm, never fussy, sleeping boy that was just chilling in his car seat on the other side of the room? Yup, that one.



Sorry, Blake.

Time flies

So Blake is officially not a newborn anymore. He likes to grab for his toys above his head and give smiles to anyone who talks to him. Today he got the music playing on the swing all by himself. I'd like to pretend I'm not impressed with him, but I really am. It seems like he is reaching these milestones faster than Carolyn did, but then I think about it, and I realize that I am just not hovering so much over him. With Carolyn, I couldn't wait for each new step because she was all I had to focus on. Now I am lucky if I see Blake trying new things because I am busy chasing after his big sister.





I needed to include these pictures for comparison's sake. The size difference isn't obvious because of Carolyn's gigantic sweat suit. Except in the head. Blake has a big noggin.
One thing I am so grateful for with Blake is his ability to sleep in places besides his crib. He was wide awake while Angel, Carolyn, and I were in my room. One second later, he was out. I love it. He is much more portable than she was. I am really hoping this trait lasts a long time.



Blake isn't deriving much pleasure from this situation. The grin on Carolyn's face though...she has a lot of love to give.
Today I actually put on makeup. I was using my concealer under my eyes (desperately needed because of her inability to sleep at night...and Blake's too) and Carolyn asked what it was for. I explained to her it was to make that skin look the same color as everything else on my face. She screwed up her nose, looks at me, and says, "that's silly, Mama."

Last night Carolyn wouldn't stay in bed. I was up and down the stairs every 15-20 minutes to take her potty or fix her blankets. In between trips, I was chowing on some delicious homemade Chocolate Hazelnut ice cream our friend brought over. I went to kiss Carolyn goodnight (again) and she asked what I was eating. " Nothing." "It's chocolate! You eating chocolate!"