Beach fun!

Yes, we made it safely to the beach and back today. Gramma Lou and I get an A++ for effort. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the makers of the Radio Flyer "Pathfinder" wagon. No, the children did not ride in the wagon at the beach, but all their crap did! And, it handles itself like a dream through the sand. All this and more for the low low price of 80 bucks on Amazon.

The beach, you ask, with 2 kids under 2? What are you thinking??

Well, simply put, I am thinking that it is 105˚F in Encino and we needed an out. It was fun to watch the temp drop as we neared the ocean - landing at a lovely 78˚ as we parked the car, my kind of weather!

We found a nice spot and spread out the blanket for Ben to roll around on. Emma was in heaven with all the sand. She immediately started playing in it - and by playing I mean diving into it belly first then throwing it in the air and onto Ben, so we had to redirect her attention elsewhere so Ben wouldn't need a trip to the ER on his first visit to the beach.

We lubed up with spf 50 and headed down to the water. I was carrying Ben and Gramma Lou and Emma were walking close behind. The water - as expected - was freezing! Emma avoided it at first out of fear then very quickly out of temperature. The first time the surf came in and reached her feet she screeched and ran toward the shore, stumbling into the 60˚ waters. She quickly decided that the sand was more fun than the agua.

We were there for about 2 hours total, not bad considering Ben is one day short of 6 months and Emma is, well, Emzilla. She loved playing on the beach and the whole way home kept saying, "Beach fun, Mama. We fun beach."

What a difference a year makes: Emma @ 1 year and 2 years

News Flash! Alert the media!

Actual conversation:

Hey, Em, have a bite of asparagus.
"No!" (She loves asparagus, by the way.)
Come on, just one bite.
"No!"
Here, take a taste. (I shove some in her mouth.)
"No! Emma's mouth! Dangerous!"

Let that be a lesson to you, dear readers. Asparagus is now dangerous!

Is it snowing yet?

It's been 100˚ every day here since we returned from our trip east. I remember thinking in FL how happy I was that CA wasn't as hot and humid as FL. Well, when the temps go higher than 100˚, I have been so brutally reminded that it doesn't matter if it is humid or dry - you still can't enjoy being outside for more than 30 seconds.

We've been cooped up in the house for the past few days and I decided we will head to the beach tomorrow for a bit of a reprieve from the oppressiveness that is the "Valley" in summer. Gramma Lou is still in town to brave the Pacific with me and 2 kids - I just wish I had some kind of beach umbrella to keep the sun at bay.

Ben update: He is almost sitting up on his own. I figure in a week or so he will be good to go. He is a very active kid and a very HUNGRY kid. If we are putting any kind of food into our bodies (meal or snack), you best be sure that we better have something close for Ben to chomp on or he goes ballistic!

Emma has turned into a giant parrot. Everything you say she repeats - and remembers. As we were leaving Costco today I said, "Holy crap!" (can't remember what I was referring to - probably the heat) and Emma yells, "Holy crap!"

Daddy called her a parrot but she thought he called her a pirate, so she was saying "Emma pirate. Aaarrgh!"

Laughter is truly the best medicine.

In general, Emma can do no wrong in the eyes of Ben. He adores her. He worships her. His eyes follow her everywhere she goes. He wants to be near her. He longs for the moments when she takes time from her busy toddler schedule to play with him.

Last night was one of those golden times. Ben was sitting on my lap and Emma was finishing up dinner in her high chair. She was paying him 100% attention and he was loving it. And by loving it, I mean, full loud silly baby belly laughs. This kid was in paradise. Emma was being goofy grabbing at his feet and hands - not very gently either, but he didn't care. His big sister was playing with him and he laughed and laughed for a good 10 minutes.

I need to find a way to bottle that laughter and give it to my pharmaceutical salesman friend to market to doctors of depressed patients. We would make millions!

Emma is 2 part 2.

What a week! Florida was HOT HOT HOT! We were sad to say goodbye to Abuelita and Grandpop, but excited to head north to see Gramma Lou and the gang. The plane ride from Miami to Philadelphia was about 2 1/2 hours. Emma was pretty good, only one frustration outburst - but Ben was a big claustrophobic and in need of wiggling, so he was a tad fussy. The toughest part was going through security - no help from daddy this time, but we were lucky that there was a family behind us that I commandeered to help me by holding Ben while I got my terrorist looking blond haired blue eyed daughter in and out of the sit and stroll to be x rayed. I think I made the Daddy of the family a bit nervous as I didn't ask, I just said, "Here, hold Ben for me." Although he had 2 preschool boys of his own, you'd have thought he never held a baby before, it was kind of funny. The mom was awesome telling me I looked like a pro and that she had done the same solo flying with her boys a few years back.

Gramma Lou and my nephew, Frank, picked us up at the airport in Philly. We got our luggage and headed north for the 2 1/2 hour ride. We stopped to eat at a turnpike stop along the way - crappy food - but more of a chance to let Emzilla burn off some energy running around. I was hoping she would then fall asleep for the remainder of the ride (90 min), but in true toddler fashion, she passed out about 10 minutes from Gramma Lou's house! I got her inside, changed her diaper, tossed her in bed, and the kid didn't move for 10 hours - can you say, "Tired!"

Saturday was her official 2nd birthday. Aunt Lisa hosted an awesome party complete with jumpy jumper house. Emma couldn't get enough of the jumping and was inside the thing for a good chunk of the day!

When it came time to blow out the candles she was all excited to be the recipient of the Happy Birthday song again. It took her a bit longer to blow out the candles this time (see video below) but after it was done she requested to do it 3 MORE TIMES. "Emma one more time." "Emma one more time."

The cake was an awesome construction. Em is dinosaur crazy and the cake came with dinosaurs and a volcano and rivers and lava rocks. It was cool to look at - unfortunately not so yum to taste. That didn't bother the kids though, they ate it right up!

We spent the other days in PA lazing around Grandpa and Grandma's pool. We enjoyed a fabulous thunder and lightening storm on Saturday evening after the party which cleared out the humidity and brought us the perfect PA summer days - blue skies, puffy clouds, temps in the high 70's. Not necessarily swimming weather, unless the pool is heated - which it was, so the perfect way to relax on vacation.

Our return trip to CA was a very long journey - 15 hours door to door. Emma had a huge meltdown on the plane over the Rockies - screaming and flopping all over the seats. Good thing Gramma Lou was with us as I held Ben and she wrapped Emma up tight in her blanket and rocked her until she finally passed out for the remainder of the flight. I was a bit worried that she would wake up even wilder, but she did fine, and even enjoyed the bus ride from the airport north to the flyaway near our house. "Mama, ride the bus?" she kept asking over and over and over with her sleepy voice and eyes as we headed slowly up the 405.

Thought of the day

Traveling with 2 kids under 2 is a lot like labor. It sucks while it is happening, but in hindsight - it wasn't sooooo bad...

I will try and post about it this evening!

1 of 2 - Emma turns two!

Emma had the first of two of her east coast 2nd birthday parties today. Abuelita arranged to have a few kids her age come over to celebrate at 1 o'clock by the community pool. It was record breaking hot with 1001% humidity. The pool would have been refreshing if the sun wasn't so brutal!

We spent about 2 hours at the pool. Emma was LOVING the water. At first it was pretty easy as Em was floating around the pool in her ladybug floaty with her birthday balloons attached. Yep, she wouldn't go anywhere without those damn balloons. Again.



The above photo was the only quiet time I got the entire time at the pool - about 45 seconds!

As it was so hot, I wanted to keep Ben as cool as possible so I kept bringing him in the pool with me when I could. Emma got bored with just floating around pretty quickly and climbed out of the ladybug. Unfortunately we didn't have any arm floaties or a life jacket for her so it got tough quick with Ben in one arm and one arm keeping Emma from going to far down the steps into the pool.

I put Ben in the ladybug floatie and he dug it for about 15 min. Then he had enough of the pool and I handed him off to Abuelita. Emma refused to come out of the pool to eat lunch. I had to take her in the corner and give her the 'stern face/voice' telling her that she needed to eat some food or she wasn't going to be able to go back in the pool. It worked a little bit. I think she had 3 bites of turkey and a half a bread roll...

By 3 o'clock I was DONE. I started packing up our goodies and the others followed suit. We headed back to the house for cake and presents. Emma didn't hesitate this year when it came to blowing out the candles, she knew exactly what to do! I am not sure why I sound like Minnie Mouse in the video - surely delirium from heat exhaustion was setting in.

Sweet dreams, I hope!

I actually succeeded in getting both kids in bed and asleep by 9:20pm tonight. We just may be on track for tomorrow with the time change (my fingers and toes are currently crossed - makes it hard to type!).

Emma finally fell asleep around midnight last night, then she woke up at 2am screaming and flopping around the bed as if that damn python were squeezing her again. It took me 10 minutes to calm her down - she was soaked from sweating from screaming so hard and her face was all snotty. It was the strangest thing. She kept running all over the room trying to hide, dropping to the floor in her biggest tantrum ever. I truly believe she was asleep the whole time and was just possessed by some night terror. I even had to call Daddy in CA and put him on speaker phone to see if his voice would soothe her. No luck. Finally I wrapped her really tight in her blanket and hugged her crazy tight and just sang her favorite lullabies over and over. The Backyardigans "Oh my Sherman, oh my worman, don't you worry, don't you fret, we will make it to the party, we will get there, yah you bet." over and over and over was the winner. She stopped crying and just made these huge gasping breaths that got smaller and smaller until she was back to normal. I laid her back on her side of the bed and she slept until about 9am.

She was pretty good today. It was hot and HUMID - something we are definitely not used to. We ran lots of errands with Grandma and by the time we hit the last spot - Publix grocery store, she was done and tired and howling. We cut the grocery shopping short and got her home and into bed with Oswald to relax her. She never napped, but she was laying still and rested for about 90 minutes.

I was nervous about taking her out for dinner tonight as she hadn't had a nap, but she did awesome at the restaurant and ate like a champ.

Ben was his awesome self today. I am still trying to figure out formula portions now that he is fully weaned. 5 oz just doesn't seem to do the trick, so tomorrow I will try a 6oz serving and see if that satisfies him. I realized tonight that this is the first time in almost 3 years that someone hasn't been depending on my body for nourishment. Weird! Wonder how long this will last or if it will be permanent. Hmmmmmm. Good night!

Shoutn out from FL

We made it to FL in one piece. What I thought was supposed to be a 5 1/2 hour flight was only 4 1/2 hours - I am glad I mistook on the long side not the short side - it was a pleasant surprise!

We were up at 5am, out the door by 6:30 and to the airport by 7:15. We curbside checked our bag and headed in to the ticket counter to see if we could get a guest pass for Daddy to walk us through security and to the gate. The first ticketing agent couldn't help us as we were not elderly or special needs, but he referred us to the supervisor who may be able to help. We waited in another line for the sup - and gladly so, she must have had kids because she didn't even hesitate to print us out a guest pass. Phew!

And PHEW indeed because when we got to security we unpacked all the liquids, the computer, the car seat, etc., I took Ben and Daddy walked through with Emma. Then we put it all back together. I am sure I could have done it myself, but it would have been painful and long and tears would have been shed - probably by me!

We got to the gate and I went to grab some breakfast while Daddy hung out with the kids. We had just enough time to scarf down some breakfast sandwiches and do a diaper patrol so everyone had clean butts to start our journey. Daddy was with us right up to the ticket check, then we said our bye byes, my heart cracked just a little and off we went down the ramp.

As we got to the plane door, the flight attendant told me I would be better off popping Emma out of the carseat and carrying it to our seats. I figured she had more experience and I listened to her... although I don't know why. The Sit n Stroll was made specifically for the purpose of flying! She said she would help with Ben so I handed him over expecting her to follow me back to row 32. Nope. Lost my son for a good 10 minutes while I got Emma all settled in. Then I asked another flight attendant if she could figure out what happened to my son who was supposed to be right behind me... She made her way all salmon-like to the front and five minutes later I saw Ben's smiling face coming down the aisle. Kid was flirting with every single passenger as he passed by! The flight attendant told me the other gal was telling all the passengers boarding the plane that it was 'bring your kid to work day' as she greated them. CREEPY MUCH?

The flight itself was pretty uneventful. Emma was kicking the seat in front of her at first, which was annoying the passenger, so I had to occupy her immediately so she would settle down. We watched a bit of Oswald on dvd, we colored, we played Memory, we read books, we killed a lot of time with a page of Elmo stickers - best invention ever! I had to change 2 poopy diapers (ben) and one pee diaper (emma). We were blessed with a 16 year old girl in the 3rd seat who loved babies. She was a huge help with Ben - often holding him while I was trying to get a new activity for Emma. Ben must have eaten 6 times on the flight and Emma hardly had a thing - go figure.

On the exit from the plane, I left Emma in the stroller seat and slowly made my way off the plane and through the airport to baggage claim ro retrieve our bags. Abuelita was waiting for us at the baggage area and took over stroller skills giving me a break.

It is now 11pm EST and Ben just fell asleep. Emma is wide awake... We are laying in bed watching a dvd. I am hoping she will fall asleep, but I think she is going to outlast me. We are sharing a double bed tonight. What are the chances I get sleep? Let the wiggle worm games begin!

Peas and thank you!

An old pal and her boyfriend stopped by today to meet the kiddos. We had a blast playing with them. At one point Emma gave Ben her favorite pink ball and said, "Here, Ben. Emma share!" I almost fell over! I wasn't sure if she was just saying it to show off, or is she was in a playful spirit as Kim and Mark are so awesome with kids!

After they left I went in the kitchen to cut up an apple for a snack. When I came back to the living room Ben had peas smeared all over his face and shirt. Emma had found the lid for the baby food jar that I had taken off earlier and forgot to throw out. She was giving it to him to eat (or lick the lid!) and he was loving every minute of it. I tried to take a picture, but it just didn't do the whole scenario justice, so you will just have to imagine the scene in your mind! I can't believe she wasn't licking the lid herself, to be honest. Maybe she really is starting to share. THANK YOU, NI HAO KAI LAN!

Quack!

Ben is down to 2 nursings a day and the rest of his feedings are formula. I have to admit, it makes my life a lot easier! We went to the park today and after about 45 minutes he got fussy because it was feeding time. It was so much easier to make him up a quick bottle than find a quiet shady spot to nurse - or more often than not, pack up the kids and come home where we would both be comfortable. After his bottle, we went back to playing, and I even decided we could take a short walk by the lake to watch the ducks.

Well, the short walk turned into a 2 mile hike because Ben was full and sleepy and Emma was having a blast quacking at all her beloved duck friends (and because we got duck poop on the wheels of the stroller and I'd rather have walked it off than cleaned it off!). We made it all the way around lake Balboa - I can't remember the last time I walked that far - surely not in the past 3 years of being in constant pregnant or breastfeeding mode! Hopefully I can make that a regular routine... I had forgotten how good it feels to MOVE - and by move I don't mean chase a toddler around the house.

Apology accepted

Emzilla and I had a minor battle this morning. I won. I think.

She has become picky about food. All of the sudden she won't eat the skin on apples, she just nibbles at things she loved before - you know, the usual toddler drama. Well, this morning, she wouldn't eat her breakfast. I gave her milk in her Minnie Mouse drink cup with a straw hoping that at least she will get some nutrients from the milk she loves - in her favorite cup, by the way...

Well the milk ended up all over Cassidy who was laying at her feet hoping for scraps - I don't think that was quite was Cassidy was looking for... You see, Emma loves to take a big gulp of milk, swish it around in her mouth as if she were cleaning out her teeth, then slowly spurt it out of her mouth all fountain like. I thought I had broken her of this messy habit, but it revisited us this morning. I took the milk away, cleaned the dog, and put Emma in a time-out in her room. I simply explained to her what she did wrong and asked her to say, "I'm sorry."

The conversation went something like this:

"Emma, you made Mommy sad. You spit the milk on Cassidy. That is bad. Emma is a bad girl. Please say I'm sorry."
"Mommy, ducks quack quack!" - pointing to the ducks on her shelf.
"Emma, no spitting milk. That's bad. Please say, I'm sorry."
"No! Emma play!"
"No, Emma will not play. Emma will lay in her bed until she says I'm sorry."

I put her in bed and closed the door. She immediately started howling, hopped out of bed and started banging on the door. I left her for 2 minutes then went inside and repeated the above conversation. She wouldn't say I'm sorry, so we repeated the lay in bed process. This went on for 45 MINUTES. I was determined to not let her win this one, even though I wanted to get out of the house... Finally after 45 minutes she gives me the most cheerful and fast and screechy, "I'm sorrrrrry!" I almost asked her what she was sorry for, but I didn't want to push it!

Raspberry Ben

At about 7:30 every night I hit the proverbial wall. My energy disperses into the universe where it whirls around and around until it somehow finds my female offspring turning her into the Energizer Bunny. I am wiped out and she is getting her second wind! How fair is that?

It is now 9pm and I finally got them settled in for the evening...(I hope!). We had a pretty uneventful day. Ben has discovered how to make raspberries by blowing air across his tongue. He entertains himself for nice chunks of time alternating from blowing wet raspberries to laughing and kicking up a storm.

Emma has added a new song to her collection. This one currently goes like this and is sung in a way that would make any redneck proud. I have no idea where she got the southern twang, but here goes:

"Twankle twankle widdle ster,
how I wandawatchaarrrrrgh. (This line is said REALLY REALLY fast, with a pirate ending.)
Up above the twankle ster,
twankle twankle widdle ster,
how I wandawatchaarrrrrgh."

She sings it over and over and over like this. (Anyone ever catch that Family Guy episode where Peter sings, "The Bird is the word." over and over and Stewie says, "Do it again! I love repetition!" - reminds me of Emma!)

Anywhooo, tonight she crawled into bed and said, "Mama read books?" I said, "Okay, one book." to which she replied, "No! 2 books!" And so it begins...

My favorite cell pic of the day:

Carousel

I love how Emma looks when she wakes up in the morning. Her bangs hang in her face and she tilts her head to one side as she walks to get the hair out of direct sight lines so she doesn't trip as she wanders into our room (if we are still sleeping) or the living room as I am getting ready for the day. She is generally good natured, although she has her grumpy mornings... If Ben is still sleeping when she wakes up and she gets to be the one who wakes him, it is going to be a good day. It gives her so much joy to jump on her bed holding the side of the crib (yes, their room is that small and the beds are butted up together!) shouting, "Ben! Ben! Ben! Ben! Ben! Ben! Ben!" until he opens his big blue eyes...

Ben on the other hand ALWAYS wakes up smiling. Even if I have to break all the rules and wake a sleeping baby, as soon as he sees it is me he gets the biggest goofiest smile on his face and does his little shy boy head shake. When Emma wakes him, he just lays in his crib laughing at her as she jumps away... Ben! Ben! Ben! Ben! Ben!

Today we had a very successful Mall/Target/Carousel run. In less than 90 minutes, I got the bunch out the door, into the HOT car (95˚F), to the mall/target, shopped $67 worth, onto the carousel, back to the car and home WITHOUT A TEAR SHED by either kid. That, dear readers, is an accomplished day!

The whole car ride/Target shopping Emma kept repeating, "Emma horsies?" Yep, Emma, as soon as Mommy gets the Milkbones for the doggies we will go ride the horsies. "Emma ride horsies?" Yep, sweet pea, Mommy just needs to find a new Avent bottle for Bento. "Mama, Emma horsies?" Yesarooni, positooni, Emma, Mama just needs to grab some shampoo. "MAMA, EMMA HORSIES???" Yes, Emma, we have to pay for everything and then we'll go ride horsies. "EMMA HORSIES! EMMA HORSIES! EMMA HORSIES!" she excitedly howled the entire time we were cashing out.

The carousel ride itself was uneventful - she "hold on tight!" and Ben giggled his chubby cheeks off at Emma riding up and down. Me, I just had a smile from ear to ear watching these crazy kiddos of mine pleasantly interact knowing it will not always be this easy, and knowing that easy or hard I am loving every minute of it.