Happy Birthday, Poppi! Love, Calla and Kelsey

TODAY is Poppi's birthday! Happy Birthday! In honor of it, and instead of posting pictures, please click HERE (yes the word "here") to see my favorite videos of Poppi playing the piano and Calla singing along! They are from last November and I think they are so cute.

Up first today, some pics from yesterday....

Calla and Kelsey's Memorial Day walk....

below: Kelsey was feeling a little down. (not really, but for some reason she had her head in her hands for the walk)

below: Calla got tired of riding the tricycle so the girls drug it along instead.

below: Oh Calla is feeling a resurgence! Her pool hair leaves much to be desired...

Kelsey's turn!

below: We got home and Daddy was cleaning out the car, so the girls thought they'd get all strapped in......

below: Kelsey can do her own buckles now which is very nice on Mommy! (Although I sit in the driver's seat waiting several minutes for all the buckling to happen)

TODAY was a rough day on Mommy. Calla woke up crabby (it took her a while to go to sleep so I don't think she slept long enough last night) and Kelsey and Mommy got the brunt of it. Daddy texted me late this afternoon to ask how she was, and I responded with: "She's gotten a spanking, three time-outs, and will go to bed without reading any books tonight." That pretty much summed it up.

This morning we got our act together and went to the grocery store. It's nice when a Tuesday feels like a Monday; I'm sure this week is going to go by fast!

The girls were naughty when we first got into the store (picture a 7 and a half months-pregnant woman picking up dozens of Fruit Loops cereal off the floor of the store...and, yes, I am that woman)....which worked out well because I made them put their individual carts back and stand in the back of the old boring cart (not even the car-cart! I'm such a meanie).

We got home and it looked like it was going to rain but we decided to risk it and eat lunch on the back deck...turns out it ended up getting sunny. It was hot though!

below: Hot enough that a popsicle on the porch swing was in order......

Lunchtime was over and it was only noon, but Kelsey was wandering around the house crying and asking me to hold her, so I decided it was naptime. Sure enough she fell asleep right away. Memorial Day weekend can take it out of you!

When she woke up we still had most of our afternoon left, so I attempted to clean out the baby's room....I unpacked two large boxes (yes, there are still boxes in our midst - no judgment) and the girls helped me sort things. (Let's just say one of the boxes involved lots of odds-and-ends plastic toys that took forever to put in their "new" places.)

While we were home anyway, we tried our hand at potty training again. Kelsey pulled a switch - usually she does great with #2 (boo) and bad with pee but today she booed in her panties and peed several times on the potty. I"m trying to decide which scenario I prefer. In her defense, as she was booing her panties she was yelling at me "Boo boo ! Boo boo !" but instead of checking on her I just kept yelling back, "Then sit on the potty! THE POTTY!" Seems like it would have been a give-in, but I guess not.

Calla had me at the end of my rope so I decided to break out a discipline theory I've had in the back of my head for a while. It is called "Tickets" but it's not as complicated as a traffic violation. We simply identify a problem - right now it is the physical abuse of her sister, whether it be pushing her out of the way, hitting her, jumping on her (yes this happened while they were jumping on our bed - apparently she was in the way so Calla decided to treat her like a gymnastics mat), scratching her, etc. Kelsey is old enough that she can recount to me each crime in detail (in a matter of speaking) so Calla is toast.

Enter, tickets. So the problem is hitting. I made a picture like this to demonstrate to Calla the problem:

(Calla is pointing to herself)

Then Calla gets five "tickets." Each ticket has a number, and if she hits/slaps/pushes/in any way injures her sister she receives a ticket (and a time-out). If we come to a day where we go through all five tickets, then I employ the Agony Principal. (Stick with me...not as complicated as it sounds.) The Agony Principal is the horrible punishment that I can select for Calla. I decided the Agony for Calla would be: an extended period of time in her room without her pacifiers and babies and with the door closed.

Calla, upon hearing the punishment: "Without Mommy and Daddy?" Me: "yes." Calla burst into tears. This indeed would be agony. I told her she could come out of her room to eat meals. Soo, the point of the "tickets" is that the Agony is bad enough that no kid would dare go through all five tickets in one day. But of course it could happen; in fact, she would have gone through five tickets today if the "tickets" had begun in the morning!

Calla was a little concerned she would forget what she wasn't supposed to do. I told her she could check the refrigerator at her leisure to remember. Then she was concerned that KELSEY didn't have a picture to remember that Kelsey shouldn't hit Calla. (This has probably happened five times since Kelsey was born!) Well I thought that was a fair (albeit non-existent) issue to bring up so I made a picture of kelsey hitting Calla. Then Calla requested I make Kelsey 7 tickets. Then Calla proceeded to explain to Kelsey the "ticket procedure" it least three or four times this evening.

In fact, MOmmy and Daddy didn't really get a word in edgewise over dinner because Calla was too busy asking Kelsey questions about the tickets. "Do you remember what you aren't supposed to do?" Calla would say pointedly. Obviously Kelsey would not respond, which was Calla's cue to commence into a ten-minute review on the topic.

I didn't get to stick around to hear anymore since I had to drive up to Arlington Heights for my bridesmaid dress fitting. Daddy put the girls to bed, which was nice since I came back to a quiet house.

That being said, they've been sleeping for almost five hours now so I better go to bed myself since I am pretty sure it will be an early wakeup time for them!

Goodnight!

Happy Memorial Day!

Happy Memorial Day to you all! Hope you enjoyed some fun in the sun....when I talked to Mom it was the same exact temperature as it was here so I think we all got to heat up in 90+ degree temps. Yay!

(Of course Katelyn and David have been enjoying 90+ degree days since April. Hmph.)

TODAY Daddy left the house at 8am-ish to save seats for the parade with his friend Jason. What dedication! The girls and I joined him at 9:30 since the parade began at 10am. Calla was so excited about the parade that she could hardly stand it. At first she thought we were going to Mimi and Pops' in Pennsylvania for the parade (the last parade we saw was in Elverson, at the Halloween Parade...she has quite the memory!).

below: Kelsey wore her sunglasses. She looks hilarious in them. Here she and Daddy are ready for the parade to start!

below: Calla was feeling a little un-photogenic. Notice Teeny situated in her shirt (like a baby bjorn). She is sitting in our friends' red wagon.

below: Kelsey decided to climb in the wagon too. Don't bring it up that I forgot to put in their "American flag red-white-and-blue" hair bows that Daddy bought for them. Bad subject. (-:

below: taking in the parade sights

below: watching the parade sandwiched in by the Weston sisters (Hailey, age 1, and Leah, age 6)

We watched the parade with five other families from church. Kids from left to right: Eli, Nate or Timmy (they are twins so I don't know), Jake, Nate or Timmy again, Leah, Calla, Kels, Hailey, Norah and Erik...

The parade was about a half hour and involved a lot of high school marching bands, firetrucks, and boy/girl scout troops. But they threw candy so all the kids thought it was a success! It was already SO hot by that point!

below: Nate or Timmy, Kelsey and Calla, Norah, and Nate or Timmy....in the twins' wagon...

The parade ended at 10:40 or so, and the pool opened at 11:30, so we drove across town to get our pool passes and eat our sandwiches and stand in line. Yes, there is always a big line the first day of pool season!

We lathered on the sunscreen and the girls got busy....

Beach babe:

It was nice to have daddy at the pool! I'm definitely a little less energetic than last year since I'm rocking this whole pregnancy-thing. Calla and Kelsey for the most part stick together though.... they swam for a while (we use the term "swim" pretty loosely around here - picture them playing in the pool with their buckets in water up to their knees)....then they played in the sand for a while....then they jumped off the edge to Daddy....then they watched Daddy go down the water slide....then they played in the baby pool.

We stayed for about two and a half hours. Calla was getting tired of it by that point. She had decided at one point that she wanted her parade candy and wanted to "leave" so she could go get it. She kept complaining so I told her she would be punished by staying at the pool "a whole extra hour." She wasn't pleased at first but got over it.

below: "not pleased"....

I could stay at the pool all day but Calla needed a break from the heat and Kelsey (who I had to drag out of the water) needed a nap! Fortunately Kelsey fell asleep on the way home. We made Calla lay in our bed for a while to get some of her crabbiness out of her system. It worked for the most part.

This afternoon Jonathan cleaned the cars and I played outside with the girls. We took a long walk with Calla on her tricycle which ended with her walking next to the stroller and me dragging the tricycle.

The girls spent some time perfecting their somersaults. I don't feel like Calla has been doing somersaults for very long, but Kelsey just learned how to do one a couple days ago (from watching Calla) and is really good at it! She gets pretty tickled with herself.

We ate dinner and then Jonathan and I spent some time rounding up '80s outfit for a themed party our Sunday school class had tonight. Our sitter Stefani came over at 6:45 to watch the girls for the evening. Technically, after a day at the pool, they could have gone right to bed but Stefani had asked if she could take them to the park for a little bit so off they went!

She said they had a lot of fun at the park but took a while to go to sleep. I don't think they were on their best behavior; she said they kept giggling. No giggling allowed at bedtime.

Jonathan and I had a great time at our party. I will have to post some pics tomorrow; there were some pretty decent '80s outfits represented. Jonathan sported a vintage Rodman jersey and I pulled out a bright kelly green sundress. (no offense, aunt Kelly)

It's supposed to be hot all week so our sunburn (Jonathan and my) won't have much time to recover.

Callaism~

~ I asked Calla what her favorite part of going to the pool was, and she said - "The baby pool because there weren't any deep parts." That sums up Calla's pool-personality for sure!

Kelseyism~

~ new word of the day: I think I say "Stop, Kelsey!" pretty often (probably even more so than "no!") because she has started saying it to me too. She thinks it's pretty funny to be yelling, "Stop, Mommy, stop!" for no apparent reason

Our Inaugural Get-Together

below: I didn't take any pictures Sunday, so here is a random one from Saturday when Calla was checking herself out in the mirror. Haha


YESTERDAY we didn't realize it when we woke up, but we had a pretty busy day! Sunday morning we went to church and then came home for lunch and naps. It started pouring rain and thunderstorming as we left church, which made the day dark and dreary and perfect for long afternoon naps!

Well Kelsey got that memo and slept for two hours but Calla never did. Instead she kept me company when my friend Andrea came over to talk through some Sunday school stuff (I'm taking over our class blog and she had to show me how she does it). In the meantime poor Daddy had to deal with our kitchen sink, which had clogged and was in such peril that Daddy had to go rent stuff like a rod to remedy the situation.

Andrea had just left and Daddy had just finished with the sink when we got a text from my friend Emily that changed our evening plans. Our friends the Adams had invited us and two other families over for a "Memorial Day Eve" BBQ for that evening but with all the rain their basement had flooded. Obviously they were calling off the party.

Well Jonathan and I thought it'd be a shame to let everybody's food go to waste so we offered to just move the party to our place. Our first party! Four couples, eight kids, and two babies later...our house was officially broken in. Haha.

The families came over at around 5, and it actually worked out well that the sun came out and the kids could spend most of the evening outside. Jonathan had cleaned off our back deck the day before, so the outdoor table and little kids table was ready for company. (As ready as a little plastic kids table can get.)

I set up the food inside and everybody ate outside, and then the kids stayed out which meant the adults stayed outside to supervise. The BBQ of a young families get-together is pretty different than most; it involves very broken conversation, lots of breaking up fights, lots of comforting the injured, and ended at around 7:15. Hahaha.

I think the girls had a good time. They did well at sharing all their outdoor toys; fortunately we have enough riding toys that I think every kid could have one. (Of course Kelsey sat in her single stroller. haha)

Jonathan says he wishes he had taken pics of our first get-together. Oh well with an hour's notice I'm not surprised we didn't think to break out the camera!

After everybody left we gave the girls baths and put them to bed. Kelsey was a little riled up and took a while to sleep. She likes being a hostess!

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY!

Calla's Wedding Day

TODAY was a day full of weddings! Back home, my family attended the wedding of my cousin Kara (my dad's sister's daughter) and ALSO the son of my parents' good friends, the Trevinos (Emily Trevino was my college roommate). Here in IL Jonathan and I went to the wedding of two people I had never met before today! I can honestly say this was the first time I've gone to a wedding where I had never met the bride OR the groom. Haha.

Jonathan is friends with both the bride and groom through his involvement in the youth group at church. They are both youth leaders, and the bride's name is Calla so you can imagine her delight when she found out Jonathan and I have a Calla. In fact, a few months ago her mom sent me a big package full of her Calla's old 'Calla' stuff (every article - ranging from a cup to a picture frame to a door sign to a stamp, etc. that had "Calla" on it) for my Calla.

And actually MY Calla has met the bride because Jonathan has taken her down to the youth room before to chat with "big Calla." "Big Calla" had never heard of any other Callas before mine. (I actually know of two others - my neighbor in PA and my friend in college had a little girl named Calla Rae.)

Anyway but before the wedding stuff was our regular old Saturday. Daddy took the girls on a drive with him to rent a power washer because he wanted to power wash our back deck this morning. I went to Target for a wedding present for the bride and groom. (It made picking something off the registry pretty easy based on the fact I didn't know them; I just blindly picked a gift ha.)

I got home and the girls were watching Daddy spray off the deck. It took him a while, and then he mowed the lawn so they had plenty to do watching him out the window. It was a damp rainy day or else it would have been fun to play outside. In fact, today was the first day the pool was open but the weather kept us from there! I remember last year we spent the whole "first opening day" there. (We even napped Kelsey in the stroller at the pool!)

I gave the girls lunch and then the plan was for me to put Kelsey down her nap and stay home with Jonathan and Calla attended the wedding ceremony at 2. Jonathan suggested bringing Calla with him to the wedding, and I thought it was a good idea since she is going to be in Courtney's wedding in two weeks and it may be nice to remind her what the whole walking-down-the-aisle thing is all about.

Well, turns out she fell asleep for a nap instead! She was so cranky this morning and so I guess she needed that nap! I was a little concerned about when she'd wake up and realize that Daddy went to the wedding without her. Fortunately, I thought it through and decided I wouldn't tell her she missed it. Instead, when I woke her up at 3 (two hours into her nap), I asked her if she wanted to go to the wedding. Calla and Chris (the groom) were having a cake reception at the church for all the ceremony guests (Jonathan said there were about 150 high schoolers there! - like I said, Chris and Calla are very involved in the youth group! I think they are on paid staff.). So I dressed Calla in her Easter dress and drove her to the church.

Daddy picked her up at the door and took her in for "the wedding," which at that point was the cake reception. It probably would have been her favorite part of the wedding anyway!

Well Kelsey was very, very upset when Daddy picked up Calla and she was stuck in the car with Mom. Poor girl cried and cried the whole way home; she even got a rash all over her face. She was so sad. I felt really bad about it. We made a detour on the way home to buy a "Birthday" t-shirt for her birthday and I let her pick out a purse (correction: it's actually a stuffed animal dog that has handles like a purse - odd, I realize) for her birthday. She cheered up pretty quickly. I have to hide it tomorrow until June 10th!

We gave the girls baths then and they were still splashing around in the tub when Megan and Ben arrived. Uncle Ben and his girlfriend, Megan, drove all the way down from Hawthorn Woods to babysit the girls while Jonathan and I attended "big Calla's" wedding reception. The plan was for them to take the girls to Two Toots to dinner. Yum! All of us left at the same time...the Two Toots group and Jonathan and I.

below: Calla and Chris, the bride and groom (not a very flattering photo!) ...Jonathan took it on the dance floor for the blog! ha

below: the reception was in a tent outdoors...fortunately it wasn't cold outside (although it was rainy!)

below: the girls riding the horse at Two Toots

(Sorry don't know why these photos are crooked!)

Uncle Ben took the photos of the girls on his phone and gave them to me later. It sounded like they had a good time at Two Toots; Ben said Kelsey got SO excited every time the train would come around on the track. And Calla ate almost all of her hot dog! I also remembered to give the girls quarters to take a ride on the horse and buy a little plastic ring (Two Toots has candy machines with junky plastic jewelry and balls in them to buy....I've never once had a quarter when I've been there!).

Ben and Megan said they brought the girls home and played a wild game of Hide and Seek and gave out some "horsey rides" on their backs before bed. Then they commenced with the book reading, when somehow one book turned into six.

Megan and Ben put the girls to bed, although Megan said ten or so minutes later she could hear someone walking around. Calla always sounds so creepy walking around after bed because she is soo quiet. Megan said she was a little creeped out! She said Calla must have headed to our room, because when Megan got up to look for her she met up with Calla in the kitchen and when she asked Calla where she went, Calla said, "Sometimes in the middle of the night I get up and check Mommy and Daddy's room, but they are not in there. Maybe they are on a long car ride."

Megan (and I) thought that was an odd conclusion but Megan said, "Maybe!"

Fortunately both girls were soundly sleeping by the time Jonathan and I got home. The wedding reception had been really pretty; it was nice to meet Calla! Her dress was really beautiful; it was form fitting and lacy and had an open back with lace detail. A satin sash emphasized her small waist. (When you are pregnant you are especially observant of small waists! ha)

Someone at the wedding told me they hadn't even realized I was pregnant which made me want to fall over (in joy/gratitude/disbelief). I was wearing black. (Good disguise.)

We got home and chatted with Megan and Ben for a while. It's hard to believe that Aunt Courtney's wedding is only two weeks away; we'll be chatting it up with them again soon!

Callaism~

~ Ben and Megan were discussing Jonathan's driving directions on their way to Two Toots and Ben said that Calla kept interjecting her opinion. "Turn right! Turn right!" she'd say. He had to pass Two Toots in order to get a parking spot, and Calla became VERY concerned. "No it's over there! OVER THERE!!!"

Kelseyism~

~ I asked Megan if she could understand Kelsey and she said mostly no. (Not surprising!) She said she did recognize one word that she "said a lot." And the word was............. gah-me! Haha this gave me a big laugh. Kelsey LOVES gah-me and I don't think I will EVER figure out what it means!!

T.G.I.F.

below: the girls playing on the top of their bunk bed. They like to play with their "doodlers" (doodle pads). Calla practices her letters, and Kelsey...well, she doodles.





TODAY Kelsey slept in until 8:45....this may have been a special treat for me (sleeping in) except that she had been up from 4-5am for no apparent reason. She is a mess.

This morning the girls and I took it easy. My girlfriends Ali and Emily came over with their six kids (total) to see the new house. Calla loved showing everybody around. Calla and Kelsey had left out some of their art stuff so soon all the girls (Brooke/Ashlyn/Anna/Calla/Kelsey) were busy working up artwork.

Lunchtime rolled around so we dug up some hot dogs and grapes and mac and cheese for all the kids. There was some debate over who got what plate (and some tears!) but I think other than that everybody had a good time! ha

We went outside to say goodbye to everybody and Calla and Kelsey got distracted by a caterpillar. So I pulled up a chair and we sat outside for a while. Calla noticed that our weeds needed watering, so when the girls lost track of the caterpillar they spent some time watering the weeds. Later on when we went back outside Calla checked out the weeds again and said proudly, "Look the weeds look nice and wet!"

This afternoon both girls ended up taking naps. Poor Calla; I couldn't let her sleep longer than 4 and I felt so bad waking her up. She is such a sound sleeper; Kelsey and I were playing in her bed and trying to wake her up with our happy voices (!) but it wasn't working. I have to literally shake her to get that girl up!

For dinner we got together with Luke and Jenny and fam. They've been out of town two weekends in the past month, and we've been moving, so it's been a while since we've connected. They ordered pizza and we spent a couple hours catching up. When I told Kelsey at home that we were going to Norah and Erik's house, she immediately said, "No dog! No dog!" I was really surprised she remembered their house enough to know she was afraid of their dog! They always put Cooper away in the garage while we are there. Poor Cooper!

After dinner, Jonathan and Luke went to the garage to get started in assembling the Moo's new swingset. It's definitely a days-long process (they were on step 1 of step 57 over an hour into the process!) but they it least got all the equipment organized!

We left at bedtime. Norah lent Calla her princess high heels which Calla loves so much that she wore them to bed tonight. Ha

* I took a couple videos but for some reason blogger is not uploading them! *

Callaism~
~ Today I caught Calla hitting Kelsey twice. She got a spanking. Just another episode of the "terrible threes." )-: She must have a pretty wimpy slap because Kelsey didn't seem too phased by either incident.

Kelseyism~
~ new word of the day: Erik

Hand Injuries

TODAY....first up....pics of the girls' room. I don't think I've posted any yet.


First, the bunk bed. The bed rail has three little circles on it (see them?) and they have a butterfly, heart and flower in them and Calla likes to ask everybody which one they like best. Ha

below: a random cubby with some of the girls' stuff in it. The white basket is full of their purses; the basket next to it is full of their hair bows. They just don't have enough girly stuff. ha

below: one wall ....baby changing station (very important) and the kitchen.

below: their dresser (mommy's old dresser). The basket on top is full of their hats. Can someone make a note to give these girls some accessories? They just don't have enough hats to wear a new one every day. jk

below: two little hooks for their backpacks. The girls that used to live in this house were named Lucy and Lily.

Going for another pic of the dresser I suppose:

below: back to the bunk beds.

It's hard to get a feeling how the room is laid out because my camera is not real-estate-ready. You all will just have to come visit!

Today, unlike Pennslvania's awesome summer weather, was rainy and icky. We even had to look for our jackets before we left for the sports center. And our umbrellas. It took the girls a solid five minutes to walk from our van to the sports center entrance because they were walking so slow with their umbrellas. Kelsey walked into two cars on her journey (she didn't want me to help her).

After my class, I picked them up and we spent another ten minutes going back to the car. Nobody is going anywhere in a hurry around here, let me tell you. Calla and Kelsey Pace is slow and slower.

Today we just stayed at home. This morning we cleaned the house a bit. We ate lunch and Kelsey took her nap. When she woke up, the girls did crafts and played.

below: Calla "sleeping' with her babies (she propped the pillow in the infant seat so her baby could sleep without being disturbed)

below: craft time!

Kelsey gave us clean-up work to do when she booed in her panties. This is the first time she's had a poop-related accident so we were pretty bummed about it. She was ironically located about a foot from the potty when it occured. I will give her the benefit of the doubt and assume she just didn't get there on time!

We also had a sad interruption to our day when I put the hot curling iron on the toilet in order to bleach the sink. I realize this was a bad decision on my part. Kelsey came in the room and decided to grab the curling iron by the hot part. First off, she's never tried to grab my curling iron (it's often sitting on the counter next to her - not on, of course). She immediately started crying so I ran her hand under cold water for a very long time. When I was tired of holding her over the sink, I put cold water in a mug and we sat on the couch and she kept her little hand in there. I felt so bad for her.

Well Calla was feeling a bit left out of the sympathy because she started crying that she had "bit her finger." It was a noisy fake cry and I explained to her what had happened to Kelsey and why I was giving Kelsey so much attention (she hadn't been in the room when Kelsey had grabbed the curling iron).

Then Calla proceeded to do the most foolish act of her 3-year old life. She decided to see if there was any truth to my story by going to the bathroom and touching the curling iron (which was now on the counter top). Of course she came out of the bathroom crying and I asked her what had happened and she said, "I burned myself on the curling iron!" and I was like "What?"

So I ended up with two sad girls on my lap with their hands in mugs. I am still unsure why Calla would have done that. Enlighten me if you have your own theories.

Late this afternoon my girlfriend Jenny and her kids, Cade and Kenzie, stopped by to see the house. Kenzie is three months younger than Kelsey and Jenny is due next month with a girl, so her girls will end up being the same years apart as Calla and Kelsey. Should be fun!

Daddy arrived home from work while Jenny was still here and proceeded to twirl Kelsey around and throw her in the air (their typical home-from-work routine). Every time he is done Kelsey yells "More, Daddy, more!"

Kenzie stood by watching the spectacle in bewilderment. The look on her face was hilarious, until she had enough of the craziness and burst into tears. Jenny said Kenzie is VERY cautious (she won't even go on the swings at the park!). I still remember when Kenzie was a baby she would cling onto Jenny when Jenny took her down stairs; we just couldn't believe a baby would know enough to be scared of heights!

This evening we ate dinner and then got the girls in bed so we could watch the Bulls game. No further comment about the game is necessary! I guess it's baseball season now!

Callaism~

~ An example of Calla's new "terrible 3s" appeared tonight at dinner when she threw her booster seat off her chair because "she didn't want it." Daddy told her next time she needed to let us know when she didn't want the booster seat and he would take it off her chair. Then he said, "Do you understand me?" Apparently Calla did not because she refused to respond. Daddy took her to room to sit there and think about if she understood. It took ten or fifteen minutes of crying in her room until she "understood."

Kelseyism~

~ new word: Kelsey loves being silly and yelling the word "bobby!" She calls Calla "bobby" to be silly. She thinks it's much funnier than Calla does.

p.s. The last hand injury of the day occurred tonight when I slammed my finger in a kitchen drawer. So we ended the day with Daddy's broken finger, my slammed fingernail, and Calla and Kelsey's burn injuries. The walking wounded over here.

Toy Organization (Ick)

TODAY the girls woke up after a rough night. Calla wet the bed for the second consecutive night in a row, bringing the grand total of "times she's ever wet the bed" to four. Seeing as two of the four were in the last 48 hours, I was pretty confused with the new habit. I asked Calla why she wet the bed and she didn't have a response. I asked her if she was scared to use the bathroom in the night at our new house, because in actuality she has yet to get out of bed and use it during the night. I guess the first few nights in the new house she didn't have to go or something.

Anyway, after washing all the sheets, mattress cover, comforter, blankets, etc. for the second day in a row and wrestling them back on the bed tonight, I told her I wanted her to wear a diaper to be safe. She had no qualms about it, although she insisted on putting it on herself and I noticed she put panties on over it. There, nobody will know the difference.

So this morning we woke up to thunderstorms and rain. It definitely seemed like one of those days to cozy up and stay inside, but by 10:30 or 11 the natives were getting restless. Kelsey had asked it least five times to go outside. She asks by saying "Go bye bye!" and bringing her shoes to the front door. She was very relieved when I said we'd be going to Target.

We headed to Target for some storage items, as I had it in mind to finally conquer our toy organization. Up until now, some of our toys were organized but there were three (yes, three) large boxes of miscellaneous toys just tripping us up wherever we walked.

So we braved the rain in search of containers:


I have made up my mind to keep Kelsey in panties unless she is either sleeping or in somebody else's care. So off to Target she went in her panties, and after a while she did have an accident. (In her defense, I hadn't bothered to familiarize her with the bathrooms there.) I fully expected her to have an accident, since I haven't taken her to a public place without a diaper before and she did seem surprised to have the pee soaking her pants.

Kelsey always wants to change IMMEDIATELY so I cornered our cart into a semi-private area (my big belly hid the rest) and I went to change her. Well she didn't mind me changing her out of her wet stuff but she is on a kick lately when she insists on putting on her own panties and pants. It can take forever. Calla decided she was becoming weak with starvation just as Kelsey was figuring out where the leg holes in the panties were, and as you can imagine a long five minutes of complaining (from Calla) and grunting (from Kesley) ensued. This is when I try to take over for Kelsey but then she just yells and I didn't want people glancing over to see what the commotion was about (and noticing a bare bottom).

Needless to say, we rushed through after that and got home to eat lunch. Calla did eat a big lunch so maybe she was onto something with that starvation claim. I put Kelsey down for a nap, and then Calla and I enjoyed some American Idol and a bowl of ice cream:


I haven't watched much of this season and never with Calla, and she was transfixed. I just fast-forwarded the show to the singing parts and she kept saying, "I wonder what's going to happen!" I just kept saying, "Well, they are going to sing." She told me she thinks Lauren Alaina is "very pretty." She didn't seem real impressed with Scotty.

Calla and I did put a pretty big dent in the toy organization before Kelsey woke up. By the time Daddy got home from work, we had most everything in its proper place. We treated ourselves to an hour at park (since the rain had left and the sun appeared).

below: Calla holding her baby up so it could see the cars going by (she was serious as a heart attack).

The rest of our day carried on sorta like our park visit....pretty low-key. We had leftovers for dinner, I gave the girls baths, Daddy put the bed rail on the bunk beds so I can stop setting up a pillow blockade to keep Kelsey from rolling off. I put the girls to bed at 7pm. We were supposed to have terrible thunderstorms coming through but actually I didn't think they were that bad. There is a flash flood warning in the area and Jonathan and I are feeling grateful that we don't have to worry about it in this house!

Callaism~

~ I have to say that Calla has been a pretty easy kid up until now. I don't remember any terrible 2s. She threw one temper tantrum in her entire life (I can still picture it). She did have a rough patch when Kelsey was born, but I chalked it up to the new baby (and it did disappear after a few weeks of reconciling Kelsey's birth!) But now that is 3 and a half, things have taken a new turn. Jonathan and I have both noticed that she has become more difficult. I need to brush up on all my parenting books. We can both tell she's testing our authority, and quite frankly it's very tiring!

Kelseyism~

~ In the meantime....Kelsey is getting easier! Now that she can communicate much better she is much less demanding. She is also very good-natured when I say, "Hold on Kelsey Mommy will help you in two minutes" or "We will go outside as soon as we are done picking up the toys" (she always says "okay, Mom!"). Anytime I make a suggestion of any kind "Want to take a bath?" or "Want to do a puzzle?" she always responds, "Yes!!!" with lots of enthusiasm. She is doing better at the potty, although she has her share of accidents. But she is willing to sit on the potty every time I insist, so there's no arguments or anything about it. If she doesn't have to go, she always takes the minute to scramble up the footstool to the potty and then, after pausing a second, she announces, "All done!" (I always say, "Did you go?" and then she says, "No!" real cheerfully like she should be getting an A for effort.) It's nice that God is gracious enough to ease one child out of a rough stage (Kelsey) just as Calla is getting geared up for one! (=

One of Those (pee) Days!

below: one of our new neighbors stopped by with this beautiful bouquet of flowers to welcome me in the neighborhood! They live across the street from us and have been there for 38 years. Wow!

below: this haphazard photo sort of sums up our day........


TODAY is one of those days when things just don't seem to be going real smoothly. It began with Kelsey having an accident over a vent (that can't be good; Calla disagreed - she said, "Don't worry Mom some of the pee went right down the vent") and ended with me banging my head on the bunk bed as I said goodnight to Calla. Ouch.

This morning the forecast was supposed to be rainy and instead it was mild and sunny. Well that's not a bad start to the day. I gave the girls a bath, which is becoming increasingly challenging with a belly in the way (mine, that is). Jonathan's broken finger means I am in charge of bathtime for the next few weeks, unless the girls want to be bathed left-handed. Could take him all day.

Mid-morning my friend Kate dropped off two of her kids, Braden and Kelsey Ann, since I was planning on watching them while she was in a meeting drawing up her will (I requested that we not be the "godparents" haha jk). I have decided that Calla is an introvert. She doesn't get too excited when other kids come (Kelsey Mae greeted them with lots of gusto, on the other hand) and seemed really tired once they left (laying on the couch). Braden and Kelsey Ann are real easy kids to have over and the four of them played pretty well.

At one point I killed a large ant I found crawling around in the kitchen and all the kids came over to examine the remains. Braden, Kelsey Ann and Kelsey Mae immediately began "roaring" at the ant (this was Braden's idea) and Calla was pretty taken back by the noise. In fact, she seemed pretty disturbed by it and told Braden, "Braden you need to stop! You are scaring Kelsey Mae." (Keep in mind Kelsey is sitting next to Braden roaring right along.)

Clearly Braden sensed this, and kept right on roaring until Calla burst into tears. Oh my, we have a sensitive girl on our hands. I put the ant in the toilet to put an end to the roaring. Which gave all the kids the idea to take turns using the bathroom.

Braden noticed that there weren't any "boy toys" laying around, so after I fed them lunch we went outside to play with the riding toys. Boys don't seem to mind pink scooters and riding toys! ha. Braden got in a toy car and started banging into things - you know, doing what boys do. Calla looked at him like he had two heads. I guess we need to increase her exposure to 4-year old males!

Kelsey Mae really enjoyed the company. So much in fact that she thought it'd be funny to take off her panties (she was missing her dress since it had gotten soaked in a water fight the kids had in their plastic kitchen) and wave them around in the air while she galloped around. The "big kids" thought this was hilarious and Kelsey Mae was laughing along until her mother found them. I scolded Kelsey Mae (more laughing from the big kids) and insisted she put her panties back on (panties! - the kids were rolling by this point). Kelsey Mae loved being the star of the no-panties show.

Kate picked her kids up at around 12:30 and shortly after I put Calla and Kelsey and myself down for a nap. I didn't realize it would go like that, but all three of us zonked out for two hours. I am 28 weeks pregnant which means I am in week one of my third trimester, which apparently has brought on tiredness. I am blaming it on the move and trying to shake off the tiredness. I really can't picture being this tired for the rest of the pregnancy. I guess I can't picture it because it didn't happen with my pregnancies for Calla and Kelsey! Yikes

Daddy got home and we didn't have too much time before we had to head out the door to drop the girls off at my friend Ali's house and then head to marriage counseling. Ali is the type of person who actually enjoys other people's children (a rare breed, I tell you) to the point that when we got back from counseling she said, "Get out! You are back already? It felt like 10 minutes!"

I made her family dinner, which was the trade-off for having the girls from 4:45-6ish. She was feeding all five kids though when we went to pick them up. The girls were all wearing dress-up clothes. Calla and Kelsey really enjoy it there; Calla said they played outside and played in dress-ups. Sounds like a fun time to me!

We got home and ate our dinner. I gave the girls puzzles to play with but they spent most of the evening spilling their cups. Calla has discovered the water/ice dispenser on the outside of the frig and loves to help herself. Kelsey got it in her mind that if she stood on her tiptoes and holds a big enough cup that she can get the water to dispense as well. That worked alright, except that water went spraying all over her and the kitchen. She wasn't real pleased.

The girls also had their first both-of-them-having-to-use-the-potty-at-once experience, which ended very badly. Kelsey announced she had to go, and made a mad dash which gave Calla the idea that SHE had to go. So Kelsey sat on the potty and I told Calla to wait; this isn't unusual - I am sure Calla has waited a time or two in her life. Kelsey peed on the toilet just as Calla peed.... all over the floor. Apparently Calla doesn't have any muscles to hold her pee in (or it least she didn't right then).

So I put Calla on the potty and insisted she stay there while I cleaned up the mess. I guess Kelsey wasn't done on the potty after all, because then she proceeded to POOP on the floor. Seriously! I felt like I was working at a dog groomer.

I took Calla off and put Kelsey on, and she went ahead and finished on the potty which the girls thought was just fabulous. Calla cheered and said, "yay! You get Smartees now!" (I've resorted to offering treats for potty success.) Calla always get Smartees if she "cheers" for Kelsey, although I thought it was ironic she got some for cheering when she was the one who had peed on the floor.

Speaking of pee, bedtime was pushed back a solid 10 minutes because I had to put new sheets on the bed. This morning Calla woke me up to tell me her "cup had spilled." She was completely soaked and I knew right away she had peed her bed. (The smell gave it away, quite frankly.) Calla was pretty embarrassed about it and kept saying "I think it's water." Later when Daddy asked her about it she also threw out the "But maybe it's pee" like THAT was a long shot or something.

Hopefully tonight she won't have the same problem since it appeared that she emptied her entire bladder on the floor. She should be good to go.

I realize this post is largely about pee, which is why I might add that Kelsey woke up a couple hours after she fell asleep to tell me that she had peed in her diaper. I asked her if she wanted me to change it. "No," she said. Then why, oh why, did you take the time to call me in and tell me this? I wanted to ask.

Here's to a DRY day tomorrow!!

Callaism~

~ Mommy was having a cranky evening tonight and Calla must have noticed because at story time I asked her, "Now which Sarah and Solomon story should I read?" and she said, "oh Mom you just pick! I'll be happy with whatever!" haha. Bless her heart

Kelseyism~

~ new phrase of the day: "I peed on the vent." Just kidding.

My Personal (Grocery) Shoppers

TODAY I'm throwing in the two photos I took from Courtney's Bachelorette Party on Saturday since I am starting to look large and in charge and my PA family hasn't seen me since the big "pop" occurred (I'm referring to my belly, just to clarify):

below: the bride-to-be and I

below; Ashley, Courtney's cousin (on her dad's side) and fellow bridesmaid:


Anyway this morning the girls and I got a slow start....Kelsey went all "newborn" on me last night and kept waking up. I need to really inspect her mouth for molars or something because she had been sleeping so well lately and all the sudden she's awake at 1am for a drink, then at 3am for no reason, and then again at 6am for me to refill her cup. Fortunately she fell back to sleep until 7, but I was so tired from my two-hour sleeping fragments (and I'm a night owl and hadn't gone to sleep until past midnight) that I brought her to my bed and put on a Barney episode to keep her settled. My teenager, Calla, meanwhile slept in until 8:45am. Wish I could have slept in with her!

So we ate a slow breakfast and eventually headed out the door to the grocery store. As you can imagine, my patience was a little thinner than normal after my sleep deprivation and so I wasn't exactly thrilled when I pulled my cart up to the little miniature carts to Calla could grab one, and Kelsey literally fell out of the car-cart in an effort to scramble to get one for herself.

We have been to the grocery store for many, many weeks with Calla following dutifully behind with a little cart, and never has Kelsey thought to try it out for herself. I was suspicious, so I called Jonathan and lo and behold he had taken her to the grocery store recently and allowed Kelsey to have her own little cart. Fortunately he wasn't standing right there because I would have slugged him! (playfully) ha

I told the girls they could have their own carts for two aisles. I repeat, TWO AISLES.

below: aisle one....

below: aisle 2...

But lo and behold they were on their best behavior and Kelsey was following behind Calla so nicely that I let them go the whole store with their little carts. (Picture me pushing a car-cart, with a doll in it, and approximately three items of food and following behind are two children with little carts overflowing with groceries.) By the produce section (the end of the store), the girls' carts were getting so heavy that Kelsey had to get in front of hers and actually pull it. Don't worry, I tried to intervene and throw some of her groceries in my cart but she got really insulted. Next time I'm just going to carry a basket!

Jonathan called me later to find out if grocery shopping had taken five hours but it wasn't that bad actually. I bought them lunchables, those little plastic containers that throw a few crackers, slices of cheese, and slices of ham together and call it a meal for a $1.24 or what not. The girls ate them in the minivan while I threw all the groceries in the refrigerator. Then I drove them to the park to take advantage of the nice day.

Today is the last nice day of the week, which is a real shame because - after all - it's a Monday! It was nice and warm and sunny and so I had texted some friends to see if they wanted to go to the park to enjoy it. I brought along the single stroller and so Kelsey sat in there for the first half of our park time and in the swing for the second half. She seemed pretty sleepy, which is no surprise since I was feeling sorta comatose myself.

We stayed for a couple hours. Calla is always ready to leave the park by then; I think she was getting hot. We came home and she laid in my dark air-conditioned bedroom for a while. Kelsey took an hour and a half nap, fifteen minutes longer than usual. How generous of her.

This afternoon we organized some stuff and then the girls played outside for a while. They make a big production of taking all their riding toys out of the garage...lots of options, I guess. I usually park my minivan at the end of the driveway so they know they can ride on the driveway but not past the vehicle. Our driveway is pretty long so it's plenty of space for them. (**Pretty long in Wheaton terms, not in Elverson terms! We are not talking Mimi-and-Pops-driveway-length! ha**)

Daddy got home and we ate dinner and then he headed out for "batting practice" for his softball game. We were right behind him....

below: Calla rode her tricycle to the game (the field is across the street)....She is overdressed but I thought it might get cool since it was evening and sorta windy. It never really did.

below: The girls cheering for Daddy. Calla is wearing her glasses like Diane Keaton.

Which way is Daddy?!??

below: Kelsey is the best cheerleader! Her voice really projects! Calla's inability to yell (she really is so soft-spoken) makes her pretty worthless as far as cheering goes!

Taking in the big game....

What a goof!

below: Craning her neck to see Daddy....she can always spot him! Sometimes she helps Mommy find him.

I thought we'd last for about a half hour but we actually ended up staying the whole game (it was about 45 minutes). The girls stayed busy cheering, and then when they got tired of that they counted airplanes in the sky and lined up sticks in a row. Calla played in the dirt for a while. She also took a bathroom break...I didn't have the pink potty since we had walked there so she had her first using-the-potty-in-God's-creation experience. We made sure to go somewhere that nobody could see and she seemed pretty pleased about it. Norah does this often (well, at like parks and stuff) so she had seen it before. In fact, on our tricycle ride home she insisted she wanted to go on the side of the road. No, this is not going to be a new habit, Calla.

It was 8:30 by the time we got home so the girls went straight to bed. We hope y'all had a good day!!

below: the girls cheering at the game.....

Callaism~

~ Calla kept yelling "Go J.P.! Go J.P.!" to Jonathan at the game. I think she meant "J.B." She must hear people call him that sometimes.

~ On our way home from the grocery store, we got behind a car going it least ten or fifteen miles under the speed limit (the speed limit was 30 mph) and I noticed the little lady in the car looked like she was about 100, and couldn't see over the steering wheel. No wonder she was going so slow! I muttered something about "Grandma driving so slow." Well I didn't think anyone heard, but hours later when the girls were playing outside Calla was stuck in her riding car behind Kelsey's and started yelling, "Come on, Grandma! You are driving so slow, Grandma! Move, Grandma!" I just thought this was the funniest thing.

Kelseyism~

~ I asked Calla if she wanted to go to Daddy's softball game. Kelsey followed up with, "Calla, watch Daddy ball?" We're working on our sentences over here, people!