Terrible, Terrific Twos

Birthdays have become bittersweet moments for me. I love watching my kids grow up. I love watching them work really hard to learn something new and I love seeing the people they are becoming. BUT - it is also hard for me to see them grow up and gain independence and need Mom less. We just got finished with Vienna's terrible, terrific twos just in time to start Bristol's  -

Bristol turned two today - although she acts like she wants to be at least 35....and we had part one of her birthday today with Grandma Walker and Uncle Shawn. (She heard me telling Vienna she was three so many times that today when she had a birthday she assumed she was also three - we are practicing that she is actually two, evidenced by her saying "three no two")

Vienna gave Bristol a telescope



Vienna went shopping with Dad to get Bristol's birthday presents (we should have thought that decision through better). The second she got home she started telling Bristol about her presents. We spent the rest of the day reminding Vienna it was a secret - which meant that she started to whisper what the presents were to Bristol instead of shouting. I am pretty sure that at some point or another Vienna told Bristol what every single present was. Luckily Bristol was still surprised and happy with every present she opened.

Vienna asked if we would open this toy so they could play with it and 
then told me it was her and Bristol's food storage. 

If you ever ask Bristol to smile this is what you get!



Grandma Walker's present and Uncle Shawn's tongue...



Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

Easter Morning

It was tough for the girls to go to sleep and we shed some tears about not getting to see and help the Easter Bunny, so it was no surprise that the girl's were up first thing in the morning. In my perfect world I was going to catch their initial reactions on video - in reality Vienna came out before I could stop her and saw everything. Then, I went and got Bristol and tried to leave them in their room while I went out to get the camera started - a viable plan B to get their almost first reactions... Instead - the girls came out with me because they were too excited to wait, so no videos of first reactions but trust me, it was adorable. :)

Instead - here are some videos of them finding eggs:

We had a wonderful Easter. Holidays are so much fun with kids who find so much joy and excitement in every single aspect and every little moment.  We have spent the entire week hiding and finding our eggs and I can hide them in the exact same spot every time and it is still just as thrilling as the first time!! Kids are definitely the best part of Holidays.

Getting Ready for Easter

Paul and I grew up with different Easter traditions - at my house we dyed DOZENS of Easter eggs and the Easter Bunny hid them all over our house, we never used plastic eggs. Paul's family found plastic eggs and the Easter Bunny hid them outside. We figured why not combine the traditions? Of course it was raining/snowing Easter morning so we skipped hunting for eggs outside but we did dyed eggs and plastic eggs. The girls thought it was really fun to find both kinds of eggs - especially the special ones they painted with their paint set from Grandma and Grandma Meiners.

Here are some videos of the girls dying eggs - we used plastic cups so they could see the color of the dye but they were still incredibly excited to take the eggs out and see the colors!

I wasn't ready to try dying eggs with clothes on - notice that Hudson is also shirtless - Bristol insisted he needed to take his shirt off too...

Besides dying eggs they each painted one egg and these eggs became their own special eggs - originally we were going to let them paint several eggs but they took a really long time to paint them individually, and they both were very defensive about finding their own egg.

Shhhh, Quiet

Here is Sunday project #2 - I actually started these about a month ago and the goal was too finish them BEFORE we moved....it was a nice idea anyway! I think they turned out good though and the girls love them!

Some of the pages are too hard for Bristol to get conceptually but she is learning fast and having fun in the meantime. Here are some of the pages - some of them are my favorites - some are the girls: (Sorry some of the pictures are hard to see...not a photographer obviously)





Flower Garden





Making Ice Cream





Picking Apples



Counting

Matching Shapes

Letters

Matching patterns

Match the Presents

When I got all of the pieces laminated for these books this was the result:

HOURS of cutting fun!



Swiper Takes a Bath

Swiper takes a bath

 Act 1

 Dad and Mom are in the kitchen making dinner - somewhat frantically because they are running behind. Vienna is playing with Hudson. Bristol is not in the room.

Bristol enters the kitchen
Bristol: Look Mama! Swiper is all clean. (Carrying a dripping wet Swiper and leaving a small river behind her as she crosses the kitchen - she is also drenched)

Vienna: Oh, Bristol! Was Swiper dirty? Did you give him a bath? That was a good idea huh Mom?

Dad: This one is all yours babe. (Turns back to his cooking)

Mom: Bristol - where did you give Swiper a bath at? (Voice blended between outrage and humor)

Bristol: In the Potty - Swiper dirty - I washed him! (Big, smile. Obviously very pleased with herself)

Vienna: (Smells Swiper) Oooh he smells so clean now! Are you happy to be clean Swiper? I love to take baths. (Vienna is now also soaking wet from hugging Swiper)

Bristol: Uh-huh

Mom: Bristol - we don't put our toys in the potty! The potty is not a toy - now we have to wash Swiper in the washing machine.

Vienna: (Bursts into tears) But Swiper is already clean Mom!!! He will get scared - you don't do that!! (Grabs Swiper and runs - dripping water all over the floor and carpet)

Bristol: (Bursts into tears) Ne-na took Swiper away - give him back! (Runs after Vienna - slips in puddle of water - starts screaming)

Mom: Vienna give me Swiper! (Picks up crying Bristol - gets herself soaking wet) Vienna bring me Swiper right now! 1 - 2 - last chance - (Vienna returns Swiper - Hudson starts crying.

Dad: Girls come sit on the couch....

Mom: The floor! (Now holding crying Hudson - who is also now wet)

Dad: Come sit on the floor girls. (Gives some generic no fighting or playing in the toilet lecture)
Mom and Dad return to cooking dinner. Bristol and Vienna head to the toy room -

Vienna: Bristol - I think that Noodle and Dora need a bath now to okay?

Bristol: Okay Ne-Na!

Job Charts

These are the girls new job charts! We just clip the chart onto their boards and they get to put stickers on for every job they finish. Maybe now they won't find it so surprising that I make them clean up their toys every single day......here's to hoping anyway!

4 Months

Hudson is four months old! Where did the time go? He is a wonderful baby - very low maintenance and happy, a perfect balance to his busy, dramatic, girly sisters. Here are his new stats -

From left to right: Head, Length Weight

Hudson weighs 16.87 pounds(85.79%) - he is 26 inches long(85.52%) - head is 16.9 inches(67.94%)

So - in the last 2 months he gained two pounds, two inches, and his head grew .4 inches! He is still a chubby little baby (nothing like his sisters). :)

• Wakes up once between 9pm and 8am to eat - Mom loves sleeping in long stretches again
• Rolls from his tummy to his back and his back to either side
• Laughs and talks
• Follows you across a room with his eyes and turns his head to find his Mom when she talks
• Grabs your hand if you put it in front of him
• Holds toys if you put them in his hands and puts them in his mouth
• Picks up toys from the floor when he is on his tummy
• He has feet - a big discovery
• Loves to suck on his hands an occasionally gets only his thumb (This drives Mom CRAZY)
• Refuses to suck a pacifier 
• Ticklish under his chin and arms
• Wears 3-6 month clothes
• His eye color is still undetermined but Mom thinks it will probably be brown
• Loves to takes showers and baths
• Eats every 2 1/2 - 3 hours

This was the first time he grabbed a toy by himself when he was laying on his stomach. Poor kid has two older sisters so the toy is Vienna's princess necklace

Hugs and Kisses

My girls sometimes do the sweetest things for each other and for their baby brother. I love when they comfort each other, say sorry, and share without being prompted. As a mom - seeing my kids do these things is like getting chocolate! Sweet, satisfying, and addicting, so I thought what better way to reward them then with hugs and kisses?

A hug or a kiss to celebrate every sweet moment!

Stuck on You

Church is wonderful...are you sensing a but coming? BUT it can be tough with three kids. How do people do more than three? Something to look forward to I guess :) (Not an announcement) Anyway - I decided to copy my brilliant sister and put together some church activities for the girls. Here is project number one:

STICKER BOOKS 

I love how these turned out! The girls carry them around and 'read' them even without stickers - they only get stickers on Sunday. I have a bunch of stickers that the girls can put on the pages during church - a nice, quiet, holding still activity. These books are especially nice because I can just take the stickers off and use them the next week and the next and the next. Here's to hoping for a smoother Sunday next week!

Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome

According to the Mayo Clinic the definition of Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome, CVS, is:

         Cyclic vomiting syndrome causes bouts of severe nausea and vomiting that can last for days. The disorder has no known cause.

         Symptoms of cyclic vomiting syndrome typically begin between the ages of 3 and 7 years. While the disorder occurs most often in children, cyclic vomiting syndrome can begin at any age. Adult episodes tend to occur less often than do episodes in children, but adult episodes usually last longer.

        Cyclic vomiting syndrome appears to be associated with migraines in some cases. Most children outgrow cyclic vomiting syndrome when they're teenagers. However, children with this condition are at increased risk of developing migraines.

For the last several months Vienna has been getting an extremely volatile flu every couple of weeks. She wakes up around 4 in the morning and vomits every 10-15 minutes until about 1:30 in the afternoon; then, she takes a nap and wakes up and seems to be completely fine. Strange.....

Last time she got sick, I decided to take her to our Pediatrician - I was worried about what he would say was wrong but  felt like if we just knew what we were up against then we would know where to go from here. Vienna has CVS and our course of action is to first, determine how often her cycle repeats itself and then we can discuss whether we want to medicate her.

As we left the doctor's office I was feeling pretty helpless. There is nothing I can do to fix this and I can't be sick for her, all I can do is hold her and comfort her and wait it out. There is nothing harder than watching your kids suffer. I knew when I held Vienna for the first time that a day would come when I wouldn't be able to protect her or keep her from hurting, but now that the day has arrived I feel totally unprepared. Even harder - knowing there are many more moments of sitting and watching on the way.

Lions, Tigers & Monkeys

It took me forever but here are pictures from our trip to the zoo! Kara has a season pass to the zoo (so lucky!) and she can get one additional adult in free. She was kind enough to let us hitch ride into the zoo with her and we all had a blast! The girls still talk about the animals and we are still playing 'zoo' at our house at least three times a week - - - I have tons of pictures but here are some of my favorites

The favorite animals at the zoo were the elephants, giraffes, tigers, and monkeys. The girls also really liked the little animals like the ferrets because they were closer and easier to see.

When you sat on this elephant trunk it made an elephant sound and sang a song. When we first went by there was a really long line so we skipped it. Later Vienna and I walked by and she got to sit on it. She was thrilled!

     Andrew was incredibly sweet while we were at the zoo. He spent the entire day holding at least one little girls' hand - often both! The girls love Andrew!

Thanks Andrew for keeping Vienna and Bristol safe!

  

I tried several times to get all three kids looking at the camera but this IS the ZOO!! Way too many distractions to worry about taking a good picture so this was the best one we got! At least you can sort of see all of their faces.....

We ate lunch with the Giraffes. We went to the Zoo first thing in the morning and it was a great time to go. We got to see a lot of the animals being fed and the animals were way more active than they are in the afternoon!



Alex had Fruit Loops in his stroller and when Bristol discovered them she was
more than happy to help him share!

Hudson had a great time - obviously....

V and B at the Zoo April 2011



Little Pink Curlers

Every Saturday night, my mom would curl me and my sisters' hair for church with our little pink curlers. We would sleep with our curlers in and then magically in the morning our hair was curled. I always felt so pretty with my hair curled and until I cut my hair, I still used little pink curlers occasionally. (They are some of the only curlers that can make any impact on my hair)

I am so excited that Vienna's hair is long enough to curl now! Of course when I went to the store they only had black curlers in the right size - but we still call them "little pink curlers" (More than a little confusing for Vienna). It was so fun to curl her hair - with a little bit of nostalgia. I was the one asking her to hand me one more curler while she struggled to hold still. It made me miss my mom!

Here is our end result -

Of course I couldn't curl Vienna's hair without also curling Bristol's so we tried but Bristol's hair is still too short. All the curlers fell out during the night. Hopefully, her hair will grow quickly and we can curl hers too!

Beautiful Diapers

Hudson is wearing size three diapers and the girls are using size four (Just at bed time - Yay for potty training). I am always getting the diapers mixed up - I usually don't even notice until right before I finish putting the new one on them. Bristol can always tell the difference between the diapers. I ask her to get a diaper for Hudson and she will dig through the basket and find the right one every single time.....

I asked her today how she can tell the difference between the diapers. Without missing a beat she replied:

"My diapers are beautiful!"

Let's go to the Movies

Paul and I have talked about taking our kids to the movies for ages but we always chickened out until now. Tangled is playing in the dollar theater so we decided to risk alienating and annoying the entire theater and took all three kids. When we told the girls we were going to the theater Vienna asked "Where is that?" I explained then, "We have a movie here mom..." I explained that we were going to the movies like they do in Annie. I spent the rest of the morning singing "Let's go to the Movies." I swear I sang that song more than Annie has in her entire existence!

Going to the Movies!

We had a few technical difficulties:

1. The movie was only shown in 3D - like my three year and two year old were going to wear 3D glasses for the entire movie.....
2. Vienna and Bristol are too small to sit in the seats - We learned this after Bristol got folded into hers, so Paul held Hudson, I held Bristol, and we each used one hand to hold Vienna's chair down.
3. Vienna had to stand on her chair for the whole movie because she was too short sitting down
4. Vienna provided a running commentary throughout the movie "Look, she has long golden hair" "She is so pretty" while Bristol continually asked ""What's happening?"
5. Why can't you watch the movie again when it is over?

We all had a great time and I think we might actually take them back (always a good sign)!

Vienna

After the movie the girls "played" in the arcade in the front of the theater. I asked them separately if I could take their pictures with their glasses on and they both put the glasses on upside down.....no wonder they didn't wear them for the whole movie!

Bristol

 They were also too big.....

Hudson was WONDERFUL during the movie