Lily Blurbs

~We have a husky who sheds like crazy. There's dog hair everywhere even when it's cleaned up daily.  Lily drags her blankieeeee all over the place, so it also is a magnet for dog hair. When she gets a hair in her mouth, "Mama, a lucky."  "a lucky" = yucky.

~Lily is finally saying "more" instead of just signing it. Says "moan".  She came up to me with her cup for milk. "milk. moan." me: do you want more?  Lily: thank you.

~Crayons used to be "kee kees"  now they're "cahn yays"  like Kanye.  Don't worry, she'll interrupt you for cahn yays.

~Very much into associated words:  star/moon/sun. off/on. up/down. fall/hurt/careful. If I say at anytime to anyone, "Be careful", she replies, "Fall."

~Do you want something to eat or It's time to eat.  Her response: Cheese!
No matter the time of day. Cheese cheese cheese! If I say, "No cheese." She then asks for "chick-ennnnn."

~The other day she was nonstop chattering and I couldn't understand what she was saying, so I said, "What did you say, Lily?" She stopped and said, "Nothin'."  hahahahah

"Ball, Mama!"

Don't forget to enter.... $25 Burger King gift card here. Still plenty of time and ways to enter! You can enter one, a couple or all the ways! Come on...do it!  Today's the last day!!

A Fat Lip for Friday

The headache from hell is still plaguing me. It's less than it was yesterday, but it's still there just lingering and mocking me.

It is possible that it was made worse by Lily doing a faceplant in the kitchen, splitting her lip, swelling up her nose and bleeding all over the place last night. There were a lot of tears {both of us} and lots of hugs and kisses, but she's a-ok this morning.  I was honestly more concerned because her nose was swollen a little too. Back to normal today.  She was great about putting her ice pack on her mouth too. She'd switch from having her paci in her mouth, then put the ice pack, back to paci, repeat.

As I was making supper, my husband--knowing my head was hurting--deflected the typical kid whining at me about doing dishes and cleaning and just generally being kids. The mood was lighthearted, he was making me laugh and what could have otherwise been a grumpy time was not. Thank God for a good man who knows how to help me.

Also yesterday, Reag had a field trip for her Book Buddies group to see a play. {2nd graders who excel buddy up with 6th graders for a reading group}. She was funny because Monday night she was giving me the play-by-play of all the things she needed. "Well, I have to make sure I take a lunch that I can throw away--not my lunch box and something to drink. And I have gym later that day, so what am I going to do since I have to wear dressy clothes to the play?"  My reply, "Reag. You're not my first kid or my first field trip. Do not worry. I've got it covered." :)  Thursday morning, I packed her lunch, packed her a change of clothes and shoes and off she went...excited!

She has another field trip to Heinz Hall next Friday and then later that day they have Jump Rope for Heart, so hopefully she'll go with the flow and know she's going to go to school in a dress and change into gym clothes later on without worrying about it. :)

She came home with her Mother's Day gifts from school yesterday excited to share them. I love that about elementary school...how excited they are about what they've made you. She asked, "Are you going to open them on Sunday when I'm not here?"  I asked her when she wanted me to open them, but told her that I wouldn't do it without her so either last night, this morning or Monday when she came home from school.  She wanted me to do it last night.  Sweet, sweet girl.  I'll share what she did on Mother's Day. :)

Andrew has been making his gift in art class, so I'm excited to see what he made too although he told me it would be late because they didn't finish them up yesterday.  Although recently he brought home a drawing he did that I love! I was very impressed with it.

We had a busy week, as always, with Scouts, hockey, counseling, homework, field trips in addition the rest of our everyday stuff.   Only 4 more weeks of school left and then we are all going to have a bigggggggggg break.

In fact, as soon as school's over, George, Lily and myself are immediately on party of three time. Literally we send the kids to school that last morning and that's it for us.  It's honestly, strange and oddly I have some feelings of, "hmmpf. we do all the work all. year. long. and the moment of relaxation and celebration is gobbled up by other people who do nothing."  Such is life when you have kids in blended families, I guess, but still something I feel.

I hope to get some events caught up on the blog this weekend and will have my giveaway ready to go on Monday, so be sure to check in!

Happy Friday, friends!

A Not Typical Friday

Friday afternoon after naptime, Lily and I ran a few errands, picked up Reagan's bff's birthday gifts, grabbed a couple surprises for Daddy for his weekend away fishing and headed home to meet the big kids when they arrived. George was home before us which was a treat for Lily to see when we walked in. {Usually he comes home to she and I for our "party of three" time before Andrew and Reagan get home from school each day.}  She danced, squealed and jumped on the porch "Dadddyyyyy!!!!" as we approached the front door. Girl loves her daddy. ♥

Soon after, Andrew and Reag got home. Andrew came in his usual self, exclaiming something about the weather and having to hurry to the bathroom. Reagan bounced in grinning ear-to-ear, "Hi! Can I present this poster to you? Wow! I've never come home on a Friday before! I can't wait to go to Sophie's!"

We got the poster presentation for Reaganville, PA. She pointed out each part of her town that she drew and told us what she'd named everything. She had a little assistant mimicking the pointing. :)

 Lily is very into her big sissy this week. I think it's great because I think Reagan's feelings were hurt that she's always so into "Bubbbbbbeeeeeee".   Lily's also started saying "Reag" which we all find adorable. It sounds like "Rayyyyyyyyyg!"  Everything Lily says is seriously filled with excitement and it's stretched out like that.  When she tries to say Reagan, it is "Reag--eeee".  {When she says "broken" it's "broke-eee", so I guess she just likes the eeeee sound for "en".}

Andrew and Reag played video games together for an hour or so before it was time to take her over to Soph's for the party.  They were both excited since they have very limited time together to play. {video games don't happen during the school week here}

first time birthday party sleepover!

I was originally going to stay with the girls {Lily too} for supper, but I didn't end up doing that because of my snotty-nosed toddler.  But there's lots of summer time to hang out with all the girls and Reag's bff's mom and I are friends too, so we've made some summer plans already.

I hugged Reag, told her to enjoy herself and be present ~not worrying about BM or tomorrow. She's been working on that a lot here and in counseling ~learning to let go, so I hope she truly did.

I briefly saw her this morning {that'll be another post} and she said she had fun, but the anxiety was back. *sigh* 

I talked to BFF's mom this morning and she said the girls had a great time!

Our Early Friday

Happy Friday!  Seriously the weather right now is AWESOME!! I'm super excited about it since yesterday was miserably hot and humid. It's funny how once I moved away from Arizona the weather became such a prevalent topic. {random thought}

Sidenote: Andrew had a hockey game last night. George and Reagan went while Mama stayed home and put Lily to bed after a crankypants screamfest and I still managed almost two hours of time by myself. Heavenly! Andrew scored a goal ~ the first of the game actually, but they lost.  He always scores when I'm not there. hmmmm....

Reag was excited this morning when she woke up because it is not a typical Friday for her.  First thing, she gets to ride the bus home instead of going to BM's tonight, so she was excited about the bus riding. Secondly, and the reason she is coming home tonight...she is going to a slumber party for her best friend! Waaaahhhhhooooo! Yep, she's actually going!  We're excited for her to be home for the couple hours before the party too. She headed out the door to catch the bus on a Friday morning smiling for the first time all year.

Lily was really cute this morning when she woke up...chatting away talking about the "fa-woooot" on her dress and sitting down on the bottom step near Reagan, "Hi sisssss eeeee!"  Reag happened to be wearing her "Big Sisters Rock" shirt today. Fitting. :)

With the big kids gone, I headed up to get ready for the day.  Lily decided she'd keep me company and try something new to play with.  Yesterday it was a box of tampons spread all over the bathroom floor. Today: 

She's clearly in touch with her femininity.

Finally, Lily and I headed to the doc this morning for her ear recheck from her ear infection.  After the last two nights of screaming at bedtime, I was anticipating full-fledged ear infection.  I've since learned that although her ear is inflamed, but is not filled with pus {*gag me word* and DO NOT google to see how to spell it correctly ohmahgahd} that a lot of her bedtime stuff is, in fact, teeth and stubbornness.

"boo! mama!"

We headed to pick up her antibiotic then stopped to get her lunch at McD's...something we rarely do, so she wasn't even sure what to do. But, she kept saying, "Hi fry!" so I'm guessing she was happy. :)

Glad it wasn't worse and hopefully this time we'll kick it completely out so it doesn't return. The weather hasn't been helpful with kicking her cold, so hopefully that'll even out soon too!

When You Think You've Got it Figured Out

I mentioned the other day about what an awesome transition Lily has made to one nap a day. Well, yesterday was an utter trainwreck simply based on activity.  When she doesn't get the sleep she needs, the rest of her day is just off.

Yesterday morning, I got Andrew and Reag off to school, normal start to the day.  It was also Andrew's 6th grade Track & Field Day.  This is a big event in our district.  All four of the elementary schools compete against one another and it's held at the high school's stadium.  Big time event.

Lily and I had planned to attend the opening ceremony {complete with Olympic opening theme music} and leave after Andrew's first event and return a couple hours later for his remaining events. It didn't work out that way. We stayed the duration. 9am until 1:30pm. Of course, I was prepared with drinks and snacks and sunscreen, but when the concession stand was open, I just got her a hot dog for lunch and we stayed.  It rained, it was cloudy, it was breezy, it was sunny, it was humid, it was hot. Everything that Pittsburgh weather is...consistenly inconsistent.

What that meant in terms of her nap was she was limited to a short one after we got home and had to pick up Andrew and Reag at school for an afterschool appointment. 

While we were still at the Olympics track, she said, "Sleep," when a friend stopped to say hello to us. I laughed. She needs her dark room, her sound machine and all her other sleep cues to fall asleep, but girl knew she was tired.  On the way home, she kept trying to doze off in the carseat and I knew that if she slept for the 10 minute ride, she'd never got to sleep when we got home. And I needed her to nap before we had to pick up at school.  That created a car scene of a loud radio, lots of singing, talking to her, clapping hands, windows down and a myriad of other keep-Lily-awake actions.  Whew! Success. 

Up to bed, all cues present and she was out.  For an hour.  She usually sleeps around 3 hours, but we had to leave.  I hate waking a sleeping babe.

Off we headed to get the kids and to the appointment. She loves to see Bubby and Sissy, so she was pretty ecstatic even in her sleep-deprived state.

After the appointment we needed to stop by the grocery store for some cheese for our grilled burgers, 5pm. 3 kids. The grocery store. Nightmare scenario.  Luckily we made it unscathed and headed home.

Supper.

Bathtime.

Bedtime for sleepy, eye-rubbing baby girl?  Nope.

Crying crying crying, "Mommmmmmmmy! Maaaaaammmmmma!"

I can't take that.

I went and got her, rocked her, sang to her, still no luck.  I brought her downstairs to lay with me on the couch. I knew she was exhausted. Overtired. It's now an hour past her bedtime and she's F-I-G-H-T-I-N-G sleep like nobody's business.

Daddy took her back up to bed. She cried a little bit and then off to dreamland she went.

Finally...

She slept so well that I had to wake her up this morning.

An Afternoon Siesta

Recently Lily has transitioned to one nap a day, finally relinquishing her morning nap and taking one long afternoon siesta.  If I'm being honest, part of me misses my alone time in the morning. Like whoa.

However, what made me know she was ready was her.  She'd happily lay down late morning and fall asleep for a couple hours, but then she'd be Super CrankyPants {that's one of her superhero names} by mid afternoon until bedtime.  Like epic suppertime meltdown if she couldn't get her food quickly enough, get a bath and in bed.  The tough thing with that is it's still light out pretty late now. So, 6:30pm was rough.  Add an 8 year old who apparently needs 3925720428308 things equally as many times out of the bedroom which lead to equally as many wakeups for Lily, my happy baby was having a rough go of sleep. 

I tried a couple different combinations of having her nap a shorter time in the morning, then still having her nap in the afternoon.  That was an afternoon jumparoo in the crib for the duration and lots of, "Maaaaaaammmaaaaaaaa!" calling trying to sweet talk me into getting up.  Even though I recognize she still needed the down time, that combo wasn't working out for either of us.  She was still beyond tired by suppertime.

Finally, we tried skipping the morning nap all together and just trying an afternoon which has been totally working for her.  Andrew was a two-a-day napper well past two years old, but he was also a 6am riser until he was like 10.   I appreciate that the basics have worked for both of them and recognize they're two different people who have needed what works for them individually.

This new schedule of no morning nap had its whiny moments as the clock hit the noon hour at first.  Girl was ex.hausted!  But, the 3 and a half hours of sleepytime for her and downtime for me was heaven!  After some adjustments, we're successfully into a new routine that is working for her. She usually hits her wall about 12:00pm. If I say, "Lily, are you ready for lunch?" she heads to her highchair, "Eat. Eat. Mama. Eat."  She eats lunch, gets cleaned up and off to bed for a minimum of two hours, but usually three or so.  It's perfect and just like nearly everything with her, she transitions easily into what's next.

Yesterday during naptime, she apparently decided that she didn't want her arm in her jammies. {yes, most some days we spend the day in pajammies} then when realizing it, she didn't like it. I laughed.

Happy napping!

Lil' Bit of Life

Happy Thursday!

Lily and I have had a productive morning in the kitchen since Andrew and Reag headed off to school.  Andrew is on day two of a science centered field trip, so I was up early packing his lunch, ensuring he was weather appropriate to be outdoors all day and getting all the things signed and returned to school that the big kids need each day.

After a breakfast of waffles for Andrew, Count Chocula for Reagan and yogee {yogurt} and Cheerios for Lily that resulted in her second timeout over breakfast, it was kitchen cleanup and dishes time. 

Whenever I'm cooking or doing something in the kitchen, Lily likes to be right in there too.  Most times, she plays with her play kitchen mimicking and chattering about washing her hands, counting what pans she's using or opening and closing the cabinets and turning knobs.  I love it! Well, except when I'm trying to make supper and she's hurling all her pots, pans, spoons etc. all over the kitchen floor so I have to move carefully around the landmines she's just planted.

I did the dishes while she played and made me eggs ~ "eggs mama?" I see now that the egg she made me was formerly a landmine on the floor. :)

See that scrape on her face in the last picture? Poor baby! Last night she played outside with Andrew and Reag and tripped on the concrete.  She scraped her face and her fingers, but otherwise ok. No screaming. A few tears at first, but they quickly stopped because she wanted to keep playing.

She was so happy to be outside with the big kids!

One final Lily note...we've GOT to fix the way she says "frog"...



yikes!