Almost doesn't count...

Okay so is there ever something you say that comes back to haunt you? If so then you'll love this...

Just to give you some background info - Eva who is known for her random biting, etc... is always being blamed for biting when she technically hasn't bitten Grace. Generally she makes an "attempt" but Grace is good at sensing it or dodging her. However, even when Eva doesn't make contact IF Grace thinks she was going to bit her, I hear, "Eva bit me! Eva bit me!" I'll say to Grace, "No she didn't bit you..." which Grace will respond w/, "well she A L M O S T did!"

So my mantra has become, "Almost doesn't count."

So we've finished Thanksgiving dinner at Gram's house and we're driving to Nanni's - we're less than 5 minutes away, when Grace says, "Are we there yet???" So, what do I say:-) ?? A L M O S T:-)

Here is what makes me roll w/ laughter... Grace says, "Almost doesn't count." Totally w/out missing a beat -- gosh is she like a little parrot or what??!!

Pic's at the park...

Grace's Preschool Party...

Okay so today Grace's preschool is having a Thanksgiving party - most of the parties fall on days that I work, but this one is finally on a Wednesday! So I get to go:-) I signed up to bring fruit, so last night Grace and I worked on making fruit kabob's... I should say I worked on making them, while Grace tried to steal (and eat) as much fruit as she could:-) You would have thought I didn't feed her:-)

Grace's class (Miss Rhonda) all of the kids were dressed as Pilgrim's - so the little girls w/ bonnets like Grace's and the boys w/ hats. The other 4-year old class (Miss Kristen) dressed as Indian's. They had turkey sandwiches, fruit, veggies and desserts! I was shocked how well they all ate, especially considering it was only 9:30 a.m. - but they all gobbled everything down; Grace included!

Then they sang "I'm glad I'm not a Turkey on Thanksgiving Day!" It was the cutest song ever! I wish Grace could remember it all, of course I can't but it was soooo sweet. I was also impressed b/c lots of the other kids who's parents helped out were fussy, cried, just acted differently b/ their parents were there. But not Grace she was good the entire time, sweet to everyone - listened to Miss Rhonda too! I was so proud of her!

Grace & Jillian Antel (one of her best buds!)

Going to work w/ Mommy...

It's so cute, Grace has looked forward to going to work w/ me since last week - maybe longer! She has a doctors appointment w/ a pediatric dermatologist to look at the little skin tag on her leg. But the apt. is at 10:00 a.m. in Greenwood so for me right in the middle of the day. So I figured, she can come to work - bring the Leapster and some art supplies and she'll be good till then. I'll take lunch early and then Matt can take her back to Brenda's.

Grace had her little backpack all packed the night before -- too cute! And when I got up at the crack of dawn, she did good and got up and got ready too, and I'm talking early. We left the house by 5:30 a.m. I'm certain Grace isn't normally doing anything that early! So once we got to work Grace told me she was hungry so I took her over to the cafeteria where she picked out a bagel. She was excited to use the "fancy" toaster:-) She ate her bagel, my yogurt, then colored some... played her Leapster, wanted something else to eat! I've never seen her eat so much -- she had some baked chips out of the vending machine. Good thing her apt. was at 10:00 a.m. or I would have been broke just feeding her!!!

Grace had enough time to color a picture for all of my friends at work - she had tons of fun at Rob Dinkel's desk. Grace wanted stickers, Rob didn't have any - so he drew stickers for her on post-it notes! Can you tell he has a little girl too? Grace really liked him, go figure!

We left about 9:45 a.m. and met Matt at the doctors office. The doctor was super nice, you could tell she dealt w/ kids a lot. They came in w/ the dry ice and once we said we wanted it gone there was no sit tight while we go get what we are going to torture you w/ - they just did it right away. And Grace was a trouper. I know it hurt and she started to cry some, but they were fast and she was super tough. Mattie took her to get chicken nuggets (a treat!) on the way home. He said she complained about her leg the entire way to Brenda's. But when I called Brenda to check on her she said she didn't mention her leg at all. In fact, when all of her friends asked where she'd been she told them, "At McDonald's!" So no mention of the doctor at all.

Apple bottom boots....

Gotta love little Gracie, she spent FOREVER talking about "Megan the big sister's apple bottom jean boots" - aka: Megan Cory (the big sister b/c she's older than Megan who goes to Brenda's) apple bottom jean boots refers to boots that have fur (i.e. UGGS). Grace has been dying to get some, I sooooo wanted to just splurge and get her the UGGS on Zappos but they were $150 and I figured knowing my luck she would say they hurt her feet and only wear them once. So I found the cutest pair at Gap.com -- and Gracie loves them! Brenda just wrote to say that when Grace walked in the door this morning the first thing she said was, "look at my apple bottom boots!" Too cute!

Has she [Eva] grown at all???

Okay so we all know Eva has had to have grown some, but today the outfit she picked out to wear (happens to be one of my favorites!) she was wearing almost at this same time last year!!! It's November now, and she wore this out fit - same pants and the same top last DECEMBER. Crazy to think she really hasn't changed that much. Uncle Rob says, she's just gotten "curvier":-) I think that's him being nice! But we'll take it in any form we can get!

Spitting?? Seriously???

Okay so why is it that kids only pull half of the bad stuff when they are at the sitters???

Today Brenda emails me and says, "so when did Eva start spitting?" I was like "WHAT???" I've never seen her spit, nor have I seen her watch anyone spit where she might have learned this! Brenda then says, instead of pinching Little Molly she spit... oh know. What next? I pinching or spitting worse? And, I have to be able to catch her doing it to correct her, and I've never seen it happen.

Again, how can someone so cute be such a little stinker???

Eva and jacket trouble...

Oh my goodness, who would have ever thought wearing a winter jacket was such torture!

It has been a total nightmare getting Eva to wear a jacket. She practically insists on only wearing a fleece jacket - which it is now too cold to just wear a fleece. The only jacket she is semi inclined to wear is a Nike jacket that is a size 2T (yes the jacket was bought just for her, not a Gracie hand-me-down, but we thought she might have grown more than she has), so when she wears this jacket the sleeves are WAY too long. She won't permit you to flip the cuff, which would look great b/c the jacket is reversible. So she ends up looking like "Bob Gregory's kid" (for those of you who have no clue who Bob Gregory is he was a local weather man) and it is nearly impossible to get her in the car seat wearing this jacket.

So I found a jacket (and hat) at L.L.Bean -- it's too cute! And I prayed that she would be willing to wear it and (drum roll please....) YES she LOVES it!!! She likes wearing both the jacket and the hat! Now I did have to pay more for it but honestly I would have paid even more to not have to fight with her every time we went anywhere - whew!

Now Grace wants one - of course:-)

Need to post a pic of Eva IN the jacket - but here is the life savor!

Drive by's....

It's so funny Rob's back has been hurting him (not the funny part) so he's been getting into this machine called an inversion table. You hook your feet into this foot clamp and then the table flips you upside down. So essentially you are hanging from your feet, they believe Rob has a compression fracture, or had one anyway - so this is supposed to help relieve the pressure on the vertebra.

Well while Rob is hanging upside down, essentially trapped, Eva loves to come and sit in front of him and slap at his face! She thinks it is hysterical. Sometimes she just sits there while she does it endlessly, other times she does what I call a "drive by" she runs up attacks and then runs away giggling!

Luckily Uncle Rob is a good sport:-)

So what did you learn at school today?

Today when I picked the girls up from preschool it was too funny... I did what I always do and I asked Grace and Jillian, "so what did you guys learn today?"

Jillian was glued to the DVD, I don't think she heard what I asked:-) So I pressed Grace for more info, and here is what Grace said next (still makes me laugh b/c remember she's only 4!)

Mommy: So Grace what did you learn today at school?

Grace: [Looks @ Jillian, then looks at me. Scrunches her face up, looks back at Jillian.] Then says, "Hmmmm.....hey Jillian, can you help me out here?"

Still makes me laugh! Sounds like something a grown-up would say:-)

Things Grace is learning at school...

Grace is so cute - she's been practicing saying all of the things she's learned at preschool and Sunday school. If you were to follow her around you'd hear her saying "In the name of the father, son and the wholly spirit - O-man" or she will say the pledge of allegiance, which is soooooo CUTE b/c at the end of it she says "Now you can go back and play" - I'm guessing this is what Miss Rhonda tells the kids, so Grace thinks that is what she's supposed to say.

Too funny!!!

Head strong Eva...

Eva cracks me up - I can't get over how HARD HEADED she is. I know I don't think I am that hard headed now, but according to mom even as early as two I was strong minded. So I don't know if she gets this from me or Matt but WOW. Today I was trying to get her to go to take her nap, she doesn't like to be laid down awake and honestly I love to rock her so I'm good w/ giving up some "me" time to rock her to sleep - holding her snuggly little body:-) Well today she would not go to sleep - she kept looking up at me giving me a huge grin, putting her forehead against mine, tipping her milk all the way up, just messing around in general. So, I finally said, "if you won't go to sleep Mommy will put you in your crib -- do you want that?" Generally, this would be followed by a "no" w/ her laying her head down. Not today. She nodded yes - and gave me a hug grin. So I'm like okay - in to the crib she goes. Followed by crying and screaming. Grace was trying to take her nap too, so I got her back out (I know not good - but I only get her out once, after that nope). So again, back to the rocker... Eva not sleeping, playing around. I ask her again, "do you want me to put you in your crib?" This is again followed by a mischievous grin and a nod for yes. So into the crib she goes... followed by screaming, but this time I left her there. She eventually went to sleep. Luckily bed time went easier, I know it would be good for both of us, but I love holding her at bed time... and it only lasts for so long. I'm not ready to give it up yet:-)

My finger, my finger...

Grace is sooooo sweet. Tonight we were at Home Depo looking for items for the house, and Grace was acting like a four year old - touching everything and talking loudly (go figure, right?). I'd asked her to stop touching everything, for fear she was going to break something but she must not have heard me over all the talking she was doing. All of a sudden, after running her hand up and down some plastic bins she yells, "my finger, my finger - it's bleeding!" Sure enough it was, she must have cut it on a small piece of plastic. Grace started to panic... so we found Daddy. Daddy took Eva, and Mommy produced a "ban-ban" aka: band-aid.

Okay are you ready, b/c here comes the sweet part... after placing the band-aid on her little finger, Grace looks up at me and says, "Mommy, thank you so much for bring that ban-ban w/ you, just in case my finger got hurt." I LOVE LOVE LOVE that she believes so deeply in me, knowing that I'm there just to take care of her. I wish I could make her feel like that every day. So sweet, makes me melt, but then I'm her Mom-mom:-)

Eva's 18 month doctor visit...

Today Eva had her 18 month appointment, and I had to take her alone... I hate going for shot visits w/out Matt. Oh and it was AWFUL - I think I was more traumatized than Eva was... let's start from the point we got there - she had to know where we were b/c first thing after checking in, she took a huge drink of rice milk and then opened her mouth covering me in it! Seriously, I think she knew and blamed me! After being called back they weighed her, measured her [weight = 24 lbs. 5.5 oz., height = 32 inches, head = 48 cm] all in all she's 50% in range on her height (so she's improving - maybe she is mine after all!), and 50% for weight, but she takes after Grace on her head size, 90% - whew! I knew she had chubby cheeks but 90%, I would have never guessed it:-)

Dr. Paula gave her a new book, Eva loved it. The book and pictures of people in it, and she loves seeing other people's faces. Dr. Paula was impressed b/c Eva sat in a chair by herself (nearly naked) reading her book while Dr. Paula and I talked. I had to bring up the issue of Eva's reoccurring biting (wish I didn't have a reason, but...), Dr. Paula said unfortunately its normal for a second child to bite. Until Eva develops better verbal skills and can communicate what she wants, she may resort to biting. Dr. Paula suggested (1st off -- do not bite her, yeah! I hate it when people tell me that.) she suggested taking her own hand and placing it in her mouth, and apply "some" pressure. Not enough to hurt her, but enough that she is uncomfortable and realizes what is happening, following up with "No biting. Biting hurts. No biting." Eventually, she will either obtain verbal skills to express herself and drop this nasty habit, or stop biting b/c she knows when she does her hand will hurt:-)

After this portion of the visit was over we moved on to the part I HATE - shots. Makes me sick thinking about getting one for myself, and its even worse thinking about my girls getting one. Ewww.... at Grace's last visit they suggested the flu shot, but not wanting to subject her to more pain I asked for the flu mist, which she got. Eva's not old enough (you have to be 2 years of age, and by the time she turns 2 she'd miss the flu window) so Dr. P convinced me that we should do it, tons of babies/kids die from the flu every year. I so almost didn't do it - nearly turned back and said we didn't want it at the last minute but the part of me that was scared of what might happened did it anyway.

So she gets two vaccinations in one leg and the flu shot in the other - three shots in total. I had to hold her hands, it is so not right that they make the parents be part of this violation. I gritted my teeth so hard during the ordeal that my jaw ached later that evening. Eva screamed and cried, I cried along w/ her. Then for the rest of the evening she would touch her legs and say, "ouch... boo-boo, boo-boo". I seriously think she remembered the event much longer than Grace ever did.

A little improvement...

Who would have thought I'd be happy she's "just pinching"??? :-)

Okay so today has gone a little better, Brenda wrote and said, "The morning with little miss Eva has gone pretty good. Just a few pinches here and there when she gets mad about something. I've been reminding her when she gets mad or doesn't get her way to be nice and not to bite. So far it has worked. She cracks me up. When she realized that Jarod was up she went upstairs to see him. She has done this everyday this week. She goes in his room and tries talking to him about stuff and points downstairs. It cracks him up.

Eva was bad yesterday! She bit Mollie really hard (yesterday). She still has a ring on her leg. I apologized to her mom and apologized again today and told her I would try as hard as I could (whether that meant keeping Eva with me at all times) for her not to get bitten again. She just said "I appreciate that". She said it's not so much the fact of the biting b/c she knows some kids go through it, but the fact that Mollie is getting hurt and she can't do anything about it. But so far today NO BITING!! She has been hanging out with Breanna alot. and she loves that!!"

A glass half full approach...

You know I used to dread the long drive to work, but I really believe happiness is a mind set... tell yourself you're happy and before you know it, you feel happy! I've been doing this lately on my drive to work (not that I wasn't happy before) but on the way in I think about all the things in my life that I'm thankful for - things that make me happy. I do a little bit of singing - good thing I'm alone, right? :-) Then, I try to make sure that the things in my life that make me happy have, I guess you would say a front row seat for everything in the day. Strange analogy, but basically I don't want the day to be over and think I didn't even see Grace giggle today, or realize its bedtime and Eva never once gave me her "smoochie" face (aka: I'd like something to drink sign). So while there are tons of things we "have" to do, I think about everything in the day that I "want" to do, and build my day around those things. I still get the "have to's" finished but somehow they don't seem so bad.

So why am I blogging about this? I guess b/c on the off chance I'm not hear to teach this life lesson to the girls I want them to know... you get out of life what you put into it -- but its even more than that... if you truly believe today is going to be a GREAT day, you know what? It probably will be:-) But if you start the day out saying its crap where can things really go but down? Now this isn't to say that bad things don't come along, but I think when I'm happy bad things don't seem so bad. I hope as Grace and Eva grow up this is something I can teach them - I should say, help them keep:-) B/c I know Grace wakes up (once she really wakes up b/c come one we all know she's not a morning person!) she's happy. She's happy to go to school, she's happy to go to Brenda's, she's happy for the small things - the things in life we think are just small, but when they aren't there... they are the big things. I hope they never lose sight of what is important.

Eva on the attack again...

Oh wow, what do I do w/ Ms. Eva??? She was doing so well not biting, but it seems she's back at it again. Brenda emailed me this afternoon saying, "Grace is good. Eva has bitten Jaidyn and Mollie today. They were playing with something and she wanted it. Mollie's left a welt on her leg but I'm not sure about Jaidyn's. She might have pulled away faster than Mollie so she didn't get it as bad. I sat her in time-out both times and she just cried. She bit Jaidyn first and then Mollie. I asked her if she wanted me to bite her and she said no and took off running crying. I told her if she bit someone again I was going to bite her back. She just buried her face in her hands and cried. I told her she had to sit in time-out for 5 min. After about 2 she looked at Grace and wanted her to get her. Grace said no Eva that is bad, you can't bite. You hurt Mollie."

I just don't know what to do w/ her - how can Grace be so sweet and Eva, well let's just say not so much??? And she'd so dang cute, she gets upset every time she bites someone and you correct her but doesn't seem to phase her.

Queen of the hill...