Figuring it Out

Every time I think I have something parenting related figured out, it changes. I'll think, ok, this is when they sleep, this is what they like to eat, this is what makes them feel secure in a new situation. Then, just as I'm about to congratulate myself for conquering a given challenge, they change the rules on me.

Deciding what time to go to church has been a two year battle. There does not seem to be a good time. We are always rushing to get them out of bed, back into bed, fed, dressed, etc. This morning we decided to just have a relaxed morning and go to the latest service. We even seemed to have a little bit of extra time, so I tried to take some pictures since Cate was actually out of her pajamas.

As you can see, she is rather solemn in these pictures. I should have known that trouble was brewing.

She wanted Timmy to hold her hand by the window...

He had other plans.

This picture is blurry, but this expression is so Timmy.

As his expression above might indicate, Timmy has always been easygoing about getting dropped off in the nursery at church. He sees a few balls and he is off to play. He never looks back.

We have had quite a lot of difficulty dropping Cate off in the 2 yr. old room at church. For weeks or maybe even months, Tim would just stay with her. Then she seemed to get more comfortable on her own. She talked a lot about what she learned, what songs she sang and of course, what they had that day for a snack. This morning, she was so upset after I left that they had to flash our number on the screen to come and get her. So Tim made his way to go and get her and returned with a very blotchy Cate. She sat with us quietly for a long time and I felt so bad that she was so stressed.

So now I'm back to wondering if we should go at a different time, try to get there really early (yeah right) so that it's less busy/crazy, if I should stay with her again.... I always have the nagging feeling that if I just did things a little bit, better, smarter, earlier, faster... then life would be smooth. It's probably time for me to accept that life with little kids is just messy and unpredictable.

This is what I Love to See!

I ended my last post hoping that I would have something interesting/exciting to report in the near future. I know that looking at this picture of C&T in their pajamas does not look like much progress, but at our house, this is HUGE progress. Cate and Timmy spent quite a bit of time playing together without me this morning! The stars must have aligned because Cate felt like reading books to T and he complied. She got him a blanket and sat and read him board books. Then they moved on to their new playhouse. Cate always pretends that it is a train and that she is going downtown to see her "fwiends." After that they played with their little dollhouse and with the Thomas train set. Of course there was some yelling involved when Timmy didn't follow Cate's plans, but this is the best they've ever done playing together.

I didn't take many pictures because I didn't want to break the spell, but the fact that I could get a few things done around the house while they were both awake is revolutionary around here. Let's hope that this is the beginning of a trend!

Sometimes it's so good....

....that you just have to lick the plate.

Timmy does, anyway. This morning Cate requested banana cinnamon french toast, so I got out my awesome, foldaway electric griddle and whipped some up. I hadn't planned to make anything exciting for breakfast because we needed to get to open gym so that Timmy could run around, but Cate really wanted french toast and I was feeling flexible since they both slept until 8:30 this morning.

After I hosed Timmy off, we raced down the street to open gym and Timmy played basketball the entire time. The only problem is that he is not content to use the small hoops, he wants to use the adult sized hoops, so I have to hoist him up and help him to shoot the ball. Cate brought her bitty baby, Maggie, to open gym but agreed to let her take a nap in Mimi's office while she ran around. I am hoping to have something besides Timmy's messy face to report sometime soon, but we have all been sick since Christmas and we have not done much lately. Let's hope that February is a healthier month around here!

Sick Day/Snow Day

Days like today make me very thankful to be able to stay home with Cate and Timmy. For one thing, it is really cold outside and we got a fresh coat of snow last night. Chicago winters really aren't so bad when you never really have to leave the house if you don't want to. The second reason is that poor little Timmy is sick again. He seems to have croup and the accompanying head cold. He only had about three days between his ear infection/cold and this. Poor thing. I was thinking this morning that although taking care of sick babies is hard work, at least I don't have to figure out who is going to stay home with him, make sub plans, etc.

Two nights ago, Tim was up with Timmy from 4:30am until he left for work. Timmy just could not go back to sleep and ended up sleeping with Tim on the couch. Last night, he made it through the night, but when he got up this morning, he did not want to be put down at all. This would have been ok, but I had already promised Cate french toast which is hard to make while you hold a baby.

I finally got Timmy to snuggle up next to Cate and watch a little "Dinosaur Train" while I cooked. I almost didn't post this pic b/c of Cate's pacifier, but oh well. She still uses it at night and for a few minutes when she first gets up. We tried to get rid of it when she got her big girl bed, but that didn't work. I don't know how we're ever going to get it away from her.

Sweet potato french toast

Timmy was allowed to eat at the little table in the playroom with Cate. I think he felt like such a big boy.

Timmy has dropped his morning nap, but this morning he needed one, so Cate and I went outside. I really needed to get some housework done, but I knew that Cate would love playing in the snow. She got dressed in her pink snowsuit all by herself and we headed out.

Getting out the Door

Cate and Timmy have been sleeping late these last few weeks, which is great except that it is so hard to get them moving. Cate (like me) really likes to move slowly in the morning, sit with her blankies and juice (the rough equivalent of my coffee) and just wake up before going anywhere. Although we decided to go to church later than usual, she still did not want to move. Everything I asked her to do was met with, "Mama, I don't want to." We negotiated through breakfast, a bath and getting dressed (the pink dress I chose was not in her plan for today). In the picture below, I wanted her to put her coat on. She was not ready.

Finally, with the promise of a box of raisins, she got her coat and shoes on.

She gave her brother a hug because he now seems to have a cough and runny nose (again) and could not go.

Finally, out the door they went and Timmy and I went downstairs to play trains until he was ready for an early nap. You may notice in these pictures that Timmy is almost as tall as Cate is. At his 15 mo. appointment this week, we found out that he is officially off the charts for height (Tim is busy finding him an NBA scout and planning practice drills on the court) and he is only an inch and a half shorter than Cate. We have had a few people ask us if they are twins, but as he starts to look more like a toddler, I think we will be hearing it more.

Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day

It was a tale of three Christmases for us this year and we had a great time with family and friends. We arrived in Des Moines late Tuesday night and got to relax for a few days before all of the festivities began. We had lunch with Nana at work, visited Great-Grandma Zee in Pella and hung out with Uncle Rusty.

While in Pella, Tim, Cate and Diane picked up a gingerbread house at their favorite bakery. This was definitely the cutest, best tasting gingerbread house that I have ever seen and Cate loved it because there was candy hidden inside the house.

Here they are peering inside to see the candy.

Cate loved choosing which parts of the house to eat...

...but she mostly favored the green dollops of frosting that served as bushes in front of the house...

We broke into the gingerbread house after presents, church and Christmas eve dinner but after that, the night was not so relaxing. We ended up in the emergency room with Timmy until 2am. He had been sick for a few days and, of course, got worse at night, right before Christmas. Thankfully, we did not wait at all at the hospital and were home and in bed with an antibiotic in less than two hours.

The next morning, we got up late and headed to Pella for Christmas dinner at Great-Grandma Zee's house. Although she was initially shy, Cate had a great time playing with her second cousins, Claire and Nicole. They did a lot of dancing and jumping on the bed which Cate thoroughly enjoyed.

We left Pella around 5 to head back to Chicago for "Boxing Day" with my family and the Beneshes. When we got into the car, Cate saw that we had installed a dual screen DVD player (Merry Christmas to us!) and looked at her brother and said, "Look, T! We're gonna watch a show in this!!!" Timmy was still not feeling well and both were very, very tired, but the DVD player helped and we made it home quickly.

We made it to Mimi and Pop's house the next morning and exchanged gifts with them. They loved all of their fun, new gifts.

Cate is obsessed with the eyes on a doll. It makes her very uncomfortable when they open and close. This baby's eyes stay open. Nana got her an adorable Bitty Baby (and tons of accessories), which Cate loves, but she had to get used to the fact that her eyes do open and close.

TT on the motorcycle with his Mimi.

The tent and tunnel...a big hit.

Cate and Auntie Jenn...not sure what kind of face she is making...

Taking care of her Bitty Baby. She loves to "change the baby" and pack and unpack her diaper bag.

Bee Bee and Lia Bee

The four of us.

We have a few cute videos from the past few days that I should upload but here is just one of my favorites from Nana's house:

(The first three words are her favorite Christmas song (that she made up and sings in bed), "Jesus is boooorn".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4-vVEjGves

A Big Girl Bed

Cate has spent the last two nights and two naps in her pink big girl bed. She is loving it. She has done really well with the transition and loves to just go in her room and look at books on her own bed now instead of on ours.

Cate's big girl room is still a work in progress, but the theme is pink pink and more pink. I ordered this for her walls to replace her green and yellow animals and I need to look for a new lamp at some point too. Timmy loves to roll around and play on this new "toy" which he can already climb up on by himself.

We are very much looking forward to spending Christmas with our families and have been busy wrapping gifts (Cate chose the gift tags and held the tape) and baking cookies, pretzel chocolate treats and banana bread. The spirit of Christmas is alive in Cate's room every night when she fully recounts the events of the day, "Timmy had milk, I had juice. T's a baby. Mama said no no no! I read books, I played, I fed my baby.... and finally at least a few minutes of, "Jesus is born, Jesus is born!" Merry Christmas!

Another Failed Attempt

If anyone is waiting to see a Christmas card with a cute photo of Cate and Timmy dressed in their Christmas clothes, don't hold your breath. For some reason, it has been more difficult this year than the last two. I guess we have two now who have their own "plans" for themselves. Anytime they are both dressed, I think that maybe I will capture a cute shot, even if it is in everyday clothes and that will just have to do. Timmy and I were playing a game of ball on the kitchen floor after dinner and he looked so cute sitting there throwing all of the balls he could find. When I ran to grab the camera, he took off, leaving me with this:

I don't think I'll be paying to send this one out.

O Christmas Tree

Last year we didn't put our tree up. Cate was essentially Timmy's age, so she was into everything but didn't yet understand when to be careful, gentle, etc. Plus we had a three month old, so I just didn't really care. This year, although Timmy is into everything, I was determined to put the tree up. I'm glad that we did and Cate and Timmy love to look at the lights, but "trimming the tree" was not much fun. Timmy was freaking out because he thought that all of the ornaments were balls and he could not understand why he couldn't have them. He was just pointing at all of the ornaments on the tree and looking pitifully at us as he yelled, "Ball, ball, a ball!"

I thought that maybe we could get a cute picture of Cate and Timmy in their matching reindeer pajamas but Timmy was too mad and for some reason, Cate insisted on lifting up her foot in all of the shots. The one below is one of the few where her foot doesn't obstruct her face.

I just wanted them to sit next to each other, but Timmy kept sitting on her lap and then slipping, so Cate would grab him in a strangle hold to try to hang on...

We gave this "ball" to Timmy to appease him. It is kind of an unusual ornament that is not (easily) breakable but this did not hold his interest for long. Doesn't he look like such a big boy here?

Thanksgiving

A few weeks before Thanksgiving we had the chance to take Cate and Timmy to a meal packing event designed for families with little kids. We have been talking about wanting to get more involved with our church's food pantry...or any food pantry, but it is still hard to do those types of things when you have such little kids. There was lots of music, which Cate loved, and simple instructions for packing a holiday meal for another family. We all did our best coloring work, Timmy too, and Cate followed directions very well when it came time to load up the basket.

We had a nice, relaxing Thanksgiving weekend but I don't have many photos to show for it. Cate helped me with all of the cooking. She really loves to cook. She will look at a recipe and lean in really close to it, pretend to read it and drag her finger along the ingredient list, just like I do. For some reason when she "reads" recipes, she only speaks gibberish, no real words, but it is hilarious. Here she is with the Pumpkin Chiffon pie that we made.

I love the fact that I was a teacher for 7 years and still cannot write on a chalkboard. In class, I would try to write neatly and when I would step away from the board, I would realize that the letters all got bigger at the end of the word and were on an upward slant.

Dancing and singing with her "microphone"

Pinks

This is what Cate looks like about 20 hrs a day. It is all I can do to get her out of her favorite pink pajamas. She only wants her "pinks," no other jammies will do. These pajamas that Cate finds so cozy that she wants to live in them, were $7.99 at Marshalls. I ended up picking up a second pair because they make her so happy and sometimes they need to get washed.

The other day, she got her sleeves wet washing her hands and she told me that she would need her other pinks before her nap. Yes, she insists on changing back into them for nap time. I told her that I thought both sets were in the wash and that she would have to settle for her pink owl pajamas. When I opened her drawer and she saw the second pair of pinks in there, clean and folded, she said, "Oooh mommy. These are warm, right? I want my pinks, please." Crisis averted.

We are getting ready to switch her into a big girl bed, so I am in the process of picking out new bedding, etc. for her room. It will be pink, of course, so I can't wait to see her reaction.

Visiting Uncle Rus

Last weekend we went to visit Uncle Rusty and to see his new apartment. As you can see, his apartment has amazing views and Cate and Timmy loved looking out the windows. I'm sure that they left many hand and face prints...sorry about that! Cate loved seeing the "L" as we walked to lunch, so we rode it around the Loop just for fun afterwards. We even got to ride the pink line, which worked out great because Cate loves all things pink at the moment. Cate and Timmy with fascinated by all of the cars, buses and trains and it was fun to think about all of the things that they will soon be old enough to do in the city.

Happy Halloween!

Cate and Timmy went out trick-or-treating together for the first time this afternoon. Cate really got into it after the first house when she realized that candy was involved. She was jumping along the sidewalk saying, "Ok, one more house, baby! Come on guys!" She would pick out candy for herself and for little T.

We picked up pizza for dinner and as kids rang the doorbell, she ran to the door to help Tim hand out candy. She seemed unphased by the costumes and just dropped candy into the big kids' bags. She was VERY wound up after dinner and treated us to a long song and dance routine which I eventually got the video camera out to capture, so I'll have to upload that. Timmy didn't seem to mind wearing his giraffe costume (which was worn by Cate last year) and I think he just loved Halloween because he got to hang out outside and roam around for awhile.

Our baby bumblebee

Baby giraffe

Timmy the teaser...he loves to antagonize her at the moment

Timmy the giraffe, 2010

Cate the giraffe, 2009