Tummy Time

Experts recommend so many minutes of tummy time per day. How many? Well actually I don't know. I guess you can tell I'm not a big fan of expert recommendations. But we try to incorporate some tummy time into our routine at least a few days a week. In fact unlike most babies Thomas loves tummy time. He's pretty strong at holding his head up and can already roll from his tummy to his back and one time last week he went the other way from back to tummy.

Sophia, on the other hand, disliked tummy time. We would have to force her to stay on her tummy. The poor thing would cry and fight us every time...even on the cool tummy-time surfboard mat. I know. I know. Mean parents.

Now before you call us tummy torturers rest assured that eventually she learned to like it.

Don't Say the M Word

One of the most anticipated events in a mother's life is the day when her offspring says "Mama" or "Mommy" for the first time. I remember when Sophia first started talking she would say "Dada" all the time. Everything was "Dada" this and "Dada" that. As her primary caretaker I completely felt left out. Hell-o! What about me? What about Mommy? Say "Mama." Say "Mommy." "Who am I?" I would beg all day long, every single day for those two measily syllables. I even tried sign language but all I would get in return was a clear and concise "Dada" or a hand to the forehead (sign for daddy). So much for Mommy. Chopped liver, I guess.

Well I'm happy to report that times have changed. Well...sort of. You see Sophia has finally learned that we (her and I) are two different people. I'm not sure if it's my recent, frequent absences or a developmental thing. Mommy. Mommy. Mommy. All. Day. Long. Mommy this. Mommy that. I find it very odd how I couldn't wait for her to call me Mommy and now I'm ready to hand over the Thesaurus to my doting 21 month old. But honestly is there a better word for me than Mommy?

Some Bunny Fun

Late last night I remembered that I had to put our Easter baskets together. Every year I give Dan a very thoughtful basket full of useful stuff and a little bit of special candy. Same for Sophia. And this year Tommy and Mommy too. The only problem is that I didn't really have time to go shopping this year. Oops! What was I going to do? The Easter bunny couldn't let everyone down. Plus being the bunny is half the fun.

Surprisingly, I lucked out. I rummaged through the house and filled four Easter baskets. I did buy a couple of things for Sophia at Target the week before but the rest of it was either a re-gift (sorry) or something I bought recently but didn't intend to put in their Easter basket. Here's a picture of my great last-minute Easter basket creations.


Hopefully my children will never find out. So Thank You to my friend for the wonderful chocolate Bunny and Peeps - they worked great. And who would of thought that the baseball onesie I bought for Thomas would double as his basket filler. And the Speed Stick and pen refills for Dan. And the Big Red chewing gum and nail polish for me. Oh and don't forget our new iPhones!!! More on that later...

We hope you all had a blessed and Happy Easter!!!

My Portrait Nightmare

Lately I've been sort of sidetracked (in case you haven't noticed by my lack of blogs) so it came as no surprise that I did nothing to prepare for the Easter holiday in advance. (I barely have time to take a shower and comb my own hair these days). But today I mustered up all my energy to take the kids to the portrait studio for the first time. I wanted to get some Easter portraits for the family but mostly for my sister. Plus I wanted some cute 8x10's for our stairwalls.

In order to make things a little easier I called on my 12 year old niece to accompany us. Luckily for me she was free and coincidentally a mallacholic (according to my sister). First mission was to find two spring outfits. We ran into JcPenney found a beautiful yellow dress for Sophia. Next, we hopped on over to BabyGap for a plaid jumper for Thomas. Mission one complete.

Second, we had to get both kids dressed and looking cute. The portrait studio has a bathroom and comfy couches so we were able to get both kids cleaned up and ready. Mission two complete.

Lastly, we had to cross our fingers and hope both kids cooperated. Mission three - FAILED.

Sophia had a complete meltdown despite the snacks and juice and toys and distractions. She hated having her picture taken. She wanted nothing to do with her brother Thomas during the combo shoot. She just wanted to run all over the store and out of the store. Is there a reason why the kid's portrait studio is directly across from the big, giant, fun carousel? Seriously! The carousel marketing people are probably brilliant and racking in the dough. But the Portrait studio can't be doing that well. Because honestly I could barely keep Sophia in the store long enough to buy one single pose. I was so worn out, frustrated and tired we left without buying a thing. I felt completely defeated.

Later that evening when Dan came home from work I went back to the store to buy the prints. As I was waiting I sat down and stared at the beautiful family portraits hanging on the walls. How in the world do all these families have the perfect portrait? They make it look so easy but for me it was SO hard. Now I realize why I put it off for so long. It was a major nightmare for me to get two kids dressed, ready and more importantly happy at the same time even with my little helper. I think it will be awhile before we try that again!!!

P.S. I do have to admit that once I got home and framed the portraits - they look effortless and perfect after all...just like the ones in the store.

Just Like Mommy

I'm starting to realize that I have to watch what I say and more importantly what I do. There's a new copycat in town and she's just like her mommy. In fact it's kinda flattering that she wants to be like me.

I can't believe she's already driving. I thought I had at least 15 more years before I had to hand over the keys. I guess it's never too early to start teaching her. Maybe it will ease the pain of drivers ed and permit training!

Another Lesson Learned

For those of you who remember the last time we ate out, little Miss Sophia had a public tantrum and we had to leave before the food came. Tonight we avoided the tantrum by going to a very kid-friendly restaurant: The Souplantation.

The food is relatively good. There's something for everyone. They have salad, soup, pasta, baked potatoes, muffins, fruit and more. The best part is that you get it all right as soon as you sit down to eat. Which eliminates the waiting time or as in our case meltdown time.

Plus they have little miniature ice cream cones. And nothing is cuter than watching your baby girl eat an ice cream cone. Even if she's somewhat sensitive to dairy products.

Spring Gala

On Saturday night I fulfilled another wish for my sister. She really really wanted to go see her son perform at his high school's annual fundraiser. The Spring Gala was held at the Four Seasons in Westlake Village. It included dinner, a live auction, tons of raffles and prizes, and the senior class provides the entertainment.

Someone donated two seats at a table close to the stage just for us. And luckily my sister was feeling well enough to go so I decided to take her. She is very strong and very determined (if you haven't noticed).

First, I had to figure out transportation. I decided that if I were dying I would want to travel in style so I rented a stretch limosuine. Plus I figured it would be easier to transfer her from the wheelchair to the bench seat and vice versa.

Kathy in the limosuine. I think she was very anxious and excited to get on the road.

Next, nurse and bodyguard in the limosuine. My sister Maggie is a nurse so she went with in case there were any problems. My brother John went with us too...I guess to help Maggie and I lift her into the car/chair. The two of them were like two kids in a candy store. I'm not sure if they had been in a limo before or at least not recently. That made it all the more fun. Plus the driver was kinda creepy so I'm really glad they came with us.

Me and Kathy at the table.

Kathy cheering and clapping at the performance. Gotta love that smile.

The real reason we went...Kathy and her son after the performance.

Picture Surprise

For lack of time...today you get a couple recent photos. Thomas is 3 months old and growing very fast. He smiles all the time now and coos and gurgles. He is a perfect little boy.

Sophia is almost 21 months and growing intellectually more and more each day. She has a ton of new words but "Okay" and "No" seem to be her favorites right now. She received a lot of attention the other day at my nephew's graduation party. Too bad all four of us didn't get a family photo but Thomas was inside the house staying warm.

Dirty vs. Clean

I hate doing dishes. It's my least favorite chore. I don't think that Dan really likes to do them either but he is very good about rinsing them and leaving them in the sink (on the non-disposal side). Me...I like to stack the other side (left-hand side) with dirty dishes and then squirt a little dish soap (Dawn) on them and use the faucet spray feature to hose them down. So basically the dishes are clean before I put them in the dishwasher.

But we still use the dishwasher. Kinda like how we wash the baby bottles and then use the Avent microwave sterilizer thingee to sterilize them. They are perfectly clean and usable with hot water and soap but we like to go the extra mile and "sterilize" them.

Well today Dan did some light cleaning and he unloaded the "clean" dishes from the dishwasher and put them away (thank you?). The only problem is that yesterday I unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher but I forgot to change the magnet from Clean to Dirty. Oops! Yes we have one of those silly reminder magnets even though we have a stainless steel dishwasher that is non-magnetic. The magnet is just resting on the counter and we flip it when we load or unload. Clean. Dirty. It's that simple.

Now most of you will probably never want to drink from a glass at our house again knowing we use "dirty" dishes. But rest assured they are probably clean enough. You see I never did believe those ads where the dishwasher or magic detergent gets the crusted food off the plate - no rinsing required. I'm one of those weird people who always washes the dishes with soap and hot water before they go in the dishwasher. Luckily my husband is one of those weirdos too. So when I commented that the empty dishwasher had never actually been turned on - neither of us were worried. It's just one of the downsides to the magnet method. Next time I will make sure he checks the top rack for wet tupperware. That's a sure sign of extra clean!

Snap, Crackle, POP

Picture this: it's 3am. I'm tired. In fact I was asleep and dreaming. But Thomas is hungry and has a dirty diaper. I crawl out of bed and sluggishly make it to his room. I take him out of the crib. Plop him down on the changing table. Proceed to change his diaper. I unbutton the pajamas, get the wipes and fresh diaper. So far so good. Except he's screaming and wiggling all over the place because he's still hungry. I mean it sounds like he's starving. What I don't get, is why he just won't hold still so I can finish the diaper change? He should know by now that if he just stayed still and would stop kicking - he would get the food faster. I promise.

You see at 3am I cannot manage to snap the pajamas. There are like a million snaps. And no matter what they always get snapped wrong and I have to start over. Why do pajama makers insist on snaps for infant pajamas. Here in the Paine household we do not like snaps. We like zippers. Much more easy. Snaps not easy. Snaps make mommy crazy. One more snap and I will probably snap, crackle and eventually POP!