Trying to build some good habits

For Christmas, my aunt bought Makaela a responsibility chart. I had asked for this since it seemed like a pretty good way to instill some responsibility in toddlers. So far, so good. Makaela loves picking out her colored magnets and gets excited over the idea that if she gets enough magnets, she gets a reward (aka: a toy) at the end of the week. Right now her chores include setting the table, clearing the table, brushing teeth, putting away toys, making her bed, doing her homework (working on her letters and numbers every night), feeding the dogs and she recently volunteered to take out the garbage (which means she empties the bathroom garbages into the larger kitchen garbage can). The one that is the toughest for her to master is the "Stop Whining" job...we struggle with getting our magnets daily on this task, but the threat of no magnet seems to be work occasionally.

North Shore

Our friend Lisa Miller is in town with her family and she rented a gorgeous home right on the North Shore by Pipeline. It was a beautiful day and it had been entirely too long since Makaela and I had been to the beach, so we were loving it. We even got to see whales breaching off in the distance- how cool is that? Mia seemed to enjoy it too and she got to wiggle her toes in the surf. Makaela, on the other hand, tore off straight into the surf. Unfortunately, the waves were pretty rough, so she got scooped up before she could take a dip, but she was dubbed "daredevil" for the entire day. I did take her in and even though the waves were rough (and a few nearly took us down), she enjoyed it. "Where is my surfboard?" she asked me. (She refers to her boogie board as her surfboard.
She was also having fun collecting "coco-apples".
After a long day in the sun with no naps, the kids were a bit restless. They were actually saying they wanted to lay down on the deck. We were like "Really?" What kids would choose the deck over playing in the sand?
Our attempt to get all the mamas and babies in a sunset picture.
Overall, it was a fantastic day- definitely need more like them!

Makaela is learning about anatomy

When we were getting ready for the beach, Makaela looked at my bathing suit and said she wanted one just like me. So I said, "You want to wear your bikini?" She replied yes, so we went and found this cute little two piece for her. After she had it on, I said "There you have a bikini just like Mommy" to which she replied, "Yes, I have two boobies now". And here I thought she wanted a two piece to accentuate her mid drift, but what she wanted to accentuate was her chest (or lack there of). Daddy is going to have a field day with this one!

She also decided to enlighten me today on the art of urinating. As she tells it, "I sit on the toilet because I'm a gurl, but boys don't sit because then their pee pee gets all over the walls. Boys, like Gavin stand up and go pee pee. Gurls can't stand up and go pee pee. It won't yerk. The pee pee will go all over the floor like when I have an accident". So glad she has gotten this down now.

Daddy and his girls

I was looking over old pictures and came across this picture of Matt and Makaela.

While Matt doesn't get to see Mia everyday, he did get some bonding time with her in NY and he gets to Skype with her as often as he can.

Let the selling begin...

So, we officially listed our home yesterday and needless to say it's a pretty sad experience. We decided t go the Help-U-Sell route thanks to the advice of the Martins (i just pray my home sells as quickly as theirs did). I cleaned the entire house and hen the realtor came in, she was impressed. Seeing the house through her eyes made me appreciate it even more and made me realize how much I am going to miss it. I thought I would miss the backyard the most, but going through the house, I realized I am going to miss the girls' room the most. I have very fond memories of rocking the girls to sleep in here. The comps she showed me were a bit depressing...much lower than what I was hoping to get for the house, but they are currently all short sales (the homes that are comparable to mine) and none of them have our backyard, so she decided to list it at $559,000. This will give us some wiggle room with potential offers. I hope it all goes well, we can break even on the house and it can be done with as little stress as possible :-)

Makaela is not adjusting to the idea of moving though. She started panicking yesterday when the realtor came over. I tried to explain that the lady was going to help us sell our home and immediately, Makaela starting crying "But I love my toys. She can't sell my toys." I told her that we were going to move to a new house and her response was, "Can I bring my toys?" I guess she associates this house as housing her toys so the idea of moving may lead her to believe we are leaving her toys too. Then today when I was looking at real estate online to get an idea of WA homes (mind you this is very premature- we don't even have orders yet), I had her look at some of the pictures. When I asked her if she liked these homes, she retorted, "Yuck, I no like that home. I like my home. Turn off the computer." Guess that is that huh?

My little hypochondriac

Makaela is quite dramatic, since Mia came down with thrush and is on medicine, Makaela thinks she needs medicine too, so she has been telling me she's sick. At random times, she will say, "Mama, I sick. I cannot talk today" (sore throat maybe?) or "Mama, I sick, my nose is coming out" (running nose), or "pish- u, pish-u, mama, I sick. I cannot stop sneezing" (fake sneezes of course- case of the drama queen-itis) and the best is "Mama, I sick. My belly hurts. I cannot finish my food, but can I have an ice pop?"

Comparisons

Everyone has been commenting on who Mia looks like and all the comments are very different. Some say she is Matt all the way, some say she has my eyes, some say she looks like Makaela,

others say she looks nothing like Makaela. Guess it is all in the eye of the beholder, but I am interested in what she will look like so I find myself inspecting Makaela's baby pictures to see if there are resemblances. What do you think?

Makaela

Mia

Makaela

Mia

Makaela

Mia

Little Miss Milan

I think Makaela has been watching too many episodes of the "Dog Whisperer"

Thrush

I've been noticing a white coating on Mia's tongue and this past weekend it got really bad. When Mia had her 2 month well baby, I had asked the doctor if she had thrush, but the appointment was so rushed, that I guess the doctor just brushed my comment aside and reported that all was well. This week, however, her tongue was completely white and I noticed spores on the back of her throat, so like every neurotic mom, I hit the internet to self diagnosis and to come up with some kind of treatment. I had talked to my friends about this and sure enough one of the other babies had experienced this too (with as many babies as we have in this group, you are bound to have common ailments). Katie was kind enough to share some Nystatin with me and I started Mia on it myself. Probably not the best thing to do, but I really couldn't let her stay this way, especially since thrush is connected with gas and fermentation in the belly- poor baby. When we finally got a doctor's appointment (a whopping 4 days after I called for an appointment), the doctor said that Mia did have thrush, but that it was already clearing up. Luckily we saw a different doctor this time :-)

My Birthday!

Today I turned 32! So crazy! Luckily the kids were very well behaved today, so work was a breeze. My team serenaded me while Nue (the band teacher) played "Happy Birthday to you" on his trumpet. Then Brian watched all four keiki while all the mamas and ladies went out to Auntie Pastos to celebrate my birthday. Everyone was there- I was so touched. Melissa and Monica had Makaela help ice cupcakes for the dessert. It was such a fun night!

Bailey's new haircut

Bailey was long overdue for a haircut and even though I love his thick mane, I have had it with cleaning up after all his hairballs. When we dropped him off, Makaela got separation anxiety and didn't want to leave him. She talked about him all day and was worried that he was lonely, that they would hurt him, and that he would miss us. When we picked him up, she was relieved to see that he was ok. Later on, she was recapping Bailey's day and said "We left Bailey at the pet store, he's ok, but he came back a lot smaller".

My Day Out Shopping

I was told that I needed to keep Saturday free because I had some fun in store for my birthday. Matt had contacted the girls to ask them to do something special, so they organized a full day of shopping thanks to Matt. I had been saying for weeks that I needed some new clothes to fit my post-pregnancy body, so the girls hired a babysitter and whisked me away to the mall. To be honest, at first I was a bit overwhelmed- didn't want to use a babysitter to do something as indulgent as shopping, but luckily the girls reminded me to focus on myself and drop the mommy guilt for a few hours. I REALLY needed it. Got some fun new clothes in the process, but the fun and relaxation with my friends was the real gift. We even shared a pitcher of beer and this was the first time we have been able to drink together - no one was pregnant!

I love having two girls

When I was younger and way more shallow (think really early 20s), I told people I wanted to have children just to name them and dress them. Makaela was fun to dress up but now that I have two girls, it has gone to new heights. I have become that corny mom who loves to dress her girls in the same or similar clothes. Right now, Makaela is liking dressing "same same" as Mia, but who knows how long this will last. All I know is, I need to stay out of Carter's.

Toddlers' idea of babies

Katie and Matt came by today to help out with some minor repair work in my house. The kids came over as well and Makaela had a great time playing with Zack and Abby. After they left and we were getting ready for bed, Makaela looked at my belly and asked if there was another baby in there. I told her no (hidding my shame at my belly being a bit larger) and that Mia was the baby. Then she said, "I want you to have another baby in your belly." "Really?" I asked. "Yeah, I want you to have a Zack", she said. "Really, so you want a brother?" "Yes, and I want another Ma-panzie and a Dylan...I want 5 babies. Can you give me 5 babies?" At this point, I just had to chuckle and say, "Ask your Daddy".

Oh well, at least I know she likes being a big sister.

Makaela-isms

I have to give some updates on Makaela's antics. She is getting so big and trying so hard to use new vocabulary and adult conversations with me, it's incredible.

• She is starting to spell out words she sees in efforts to show me how smart she is, so she spelled out GALLOP as, "Gee, A, Ello, Ello, O, Pee"
• She is also starting to do creative spelling. She was trying to dictate what she wanted me to write at the bottom of her picture and said, "Write that it is a bear and a shark: a, g, 5, l, emmo, 6, z". At least she understands that words are made of letters...gotta teach her about the number thing though.
• She watched "101 Dalmations" while we were in NY, so the other day she asked me for what sounded like the "raisins". I told her I had no idea what she was talking about and she huffed and said, "you know, the black and white puppies, the 'maisins'".
• I like to eat dinner with the TV off and try to encourage Makaela to chat with me during dinner. This usually ends in her getting irritated. The other night I served dinner and guess I forgot to turn off the TV. Makaela folds her hands under her chin and says, "Let's talk mama". I was so taken back by this, I did. She seemed so grown up. When our mini conversation was over, she said, "See mama. We can leave Dora on and talk".
• She now wants to read to herself at bedtime (which helps since I'm usually feeding Mia) and the other night she laid the book on the ground and starting jumping on it. When I asked her what she was doing, she said, "I'm jumping into the book like Dora". It took every ounce of control not to start cracking up but I said, "Oh honey, I don't think it's going to work. Only Dora can do that." She said, "You're right mama. It's not gonna yerk. I need a bigga book to fit me"

New Year's "To Do" List

So every year I try to set some resolutions and I never actually end up doing them, so I decided to just make a very large "to do" list for 2011 since I have more luck with getting lists done. So here goes:

• Get my dissertation done- alright this is a big one, but I really need to get this done so I don't have to pay another semester's tuition. Plus, if we end up moving, I would rather not have to write my dissertation states away and not attend graduation.
• Keep to a schedule: Mon/Wed/Fri will be spent with the girls, walking to the park with them and giving them quality mama time, plus some light household cleaning. Tues/Thurs is working on my paper. Saturday is a cleaning day and Sunday is a cooking day (get meals for the rest of the week).
• Pay off my credit cards (AHHHH!)
• Sell the homes- hate to do this, but I don't want to be stressed having to sell the homes at the last minute.
• Give Makaela some chores, so I can instill some responsibility in her.
• Work on Mia's baby book- the curse of the 2nd child is that all those special things get left in the dust because there is no time to do it. I started working on Makaela's while I was in the hospital.
• Work on my recipe scrapbook- thanks to Jaimi (my lovely Secret Santa), I decided it was time to go through my many cooking magazines and cut and paste the recipes I would like to keep. I have sooo many cooking magazines, I need to scale back and keep only those that would interest me.
• Try to be more patient...I'm going to need a lot of practice with that one.

2010 brought me many memories and experiences: Italy, pregnancy, my crowded delivery room and my beautiful Mia, watching Makaela attend preschool and transition into a "big girl", saying goodbye to Pops, going back to the classroom, having to say bye to Matt (again and again), and learning how to be a stand on my own two feet and care for the girls. Looking back, I have been very blessed to have such amazing people in my life who made 2010 what is was and I look forward to another amazing year full of changes and growth.

First Week Back To Work and all the Dr's appts

Ugh, that is all I have to say. I was not eager to go back to work since I was not really ready to leave my little girls. Usually I am a workaholic, but that might be the old Jenn. This Jenn wants to stay home with her little girls and avoid work like the plague. Anyway, I went back to work to find out that my sub failed 1/3 of my students, so I had to come up with an extra credit assignment and grade it and then still try to find some extra points to award just so I didn't have to fail 40 students. Ugh. Don't know why I did this, but I had scheduled three dr's appts the week back. First was my dds appt which I ended up being late for. The dentist replaced my crown and a day later, it fell out again, forcing me to have yet another dds appt. Then we had Mia's 2 month well baby appt. The clinic changed my appt and then complained that they couldn't get through on my 617 number to warn me (uh, I don't have a 617 #). After all the complaining to be seen, we finally got in and then headed to the immunization clinic to get her shots, however, it ended up closing 5 minutes before we got there, so I had to go back yet again. Finally, we had Makaela's dentist appointment on Friday. Thankfully, that one went off without a hitch

Our New Daycare Extraordinare

We had Makaela on the waitlist for Seagull Preschool and back in Nov, we were #5. When I called back this week, we actually moved further down the list being bumped by kids transferring from their other schools. Our estimated start time is around June, July. AHHH! When I told this to Makaela, she broke down in tears. This was the first time I've ever seen her experience true disappointment. She kept saying "I sad Mama" and "Too many kids need to stay home so I can go". She refused to go back to her old preschool and I think it is just because she wants to go to the new one, but she perked up when I told her she could spend her days with Brooke instead.

Melissa, Brooke's aunty, was going to start watching Mia and now, unexpectedly, she is going to watch Makaela too. I'm sure she ended up getting in over her head, but we are so grateful to have her. Makaela adores Melissa, so she has no qualms about spending her days with Melissa, Brooke, Makenzie and Mia all day. We are having a great time dressing all four girls the same. And, I get great pictures and texts all day long to update me on the girls- it helps make the work day bearable.