Ben's all clean...

Ooooooooh, I am so excited. My Eureka floor steamer came in today and I steam cleaned my tile and hardwood floors. They look so fabulous - no more dried droplets of milk and apple juice everywhere - all done without the use of chemicals or harsh cleaners - just good ole scalding hot water! And Ben, he will still be covered in dog hair from his soldier bellying through the underbrush crawl, but he is no longer covered in dirt and grime and who knows what else.

To be honest, I am not sure how long this 'crawling' this will last. He is already pulling himself up onto his knees. It is a matter of days until he gets to his feet then mimics his sister and starts walking. Watch him go in the following 30 second video. And feel free to laugh at his monkey faces. He cracks us up! I would post an even funnier video of his first co-bathing experience with his sibling, but he keeps grabbing his privates in it and my site would probably get shut down by the internet police!




Emma's newest phrase: "Hey, Ems, you got a poopy diaper?" "No, Mama, I changed it last night."

Germs are our friends!

Hmmmm, I get regular postings from babycenter and it is always frighteningly eerie how they seems to predict the next step in my children's growth and development. It is a great parenting tool and I recommend all parents sign up for the newsletters.

But today I beat them to the post. I opened my inbox and saw this advice:



I snarfed out loud as I read it because as I was doing so, both of my kiddos were simultaneously feasting on cheerios that had been spilled on the floor a good ten minutes ago by the toddler.

No three second rule in this house!

Emzilla feasts on his flesh

Ben LOVES water. Bathing in it, swimming in it, and dumping the doggy water bowl all over the kitchen floor and playing in it. Within the past 24 hours he has done all three. He is on the move - not crawling, but doing the army elbow drag across the floor. Gone are the days when you could plunk him in the middle of the floor and there he stayed... He has an affinity for the ATT U-verse modem (probably because of the blinky lights), and is even starting to pull himself up on pieces of furniture and larger toys. He does it all with a giant smile on his face - We probably should have named him Lewis Clark instead of Benjamin Clark after those crazy pioneer adventurers.

An exciting new development happened here this afternoon, Emma bit Ben for absolutely no reason. I am talking about a bite that left indentations and a nice giant red circle 7 hours later. Ben screamed when it happened and when I saw the bite mark I was so flabbergasted that I could barely discipline her. I think she sensed my loss of words and was truly remorseful for her actions. She kept saying, "I sorry, Ben. I sorry." and stayed very quiet until I was able to calm him down. As it is the first time this has ever happened I let her off with the apology, but if it happens again - I just may... I don't know what I'll do - is it time to introduce a spanking? Time outs just are not thoroughly effective if I am the one instituting them.

This parenting gig can be difficult sometimes.

An apple a day keeps the tears away

We just got home from our over 100˚ escape to the mall adventure. This time we chose The Fashion Square Mall in Sherman Oaks because trying new indoor playgrounds is how we like to roll. The whole ride there Emma kept saying, "Gonna meet new friends, Mama, gonna meet new friends!" Ben simply said, "WAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" which is very unlike him as he is generally a happy baby in the car and out.

I've never heard him howl so loud and for so long - if I didn't know any better, I'd a thought Emma was pinching him - but she is too far away to reach him! I finally got the car parked and the stroller ready and swooped him up out of his seat - he was drenched in sweat from crying so hard and it almost looked like he had a rash or hives or something. I held him tight and calmed him down, got he and Emma in the stroller and inside the cool mall, got Emma to the play ground and some applesauce in Ben's belly and "Wala!" happy baby boy again. Sheesh, speak up next time, will ya, buddy?

Phrases of the day a la Emma:
"Sure is hot today!"
"It's a hot dog day, Mommy."

A Mom at the playground said that Emma looked like Skipper, Barbie's little sister. I think that is a compliment.

B-squared

Yesterday Emma pulled my bra out of the laundry basket and said, "Dis too big for Emma. Emma teeny tiny boobies."

Then at Target, she handed me something saying, "Here, Mommy." I couldn't see anything and thought she was pretending so I didn't take it. "No! Mommy, here!!." "I don't see anything, Ems. What is it?" "Mommy, take it! Emma booger!" Upon closer look I saw she had a booger stuck to her finger. The milestones are never ending, people. We are so very proud.

Wind beneath my wings.

Once again, the combination of 100˚ heat and burning wildfires, tossed in with a little thing called the Santa Anna winds (hot air blowing in from the desert) has kept us inside most of the day. BOO! My eyes feel like there are granules of sand in them and my nose hasn't stopped running all day. Double BOO!

The kids fared fine allergy wise, but by 6 pm Emma was itching to go outside. I had to bribe her with tv - and believe it or not, after three cartoons in a row she said, "TV all done, Mommy. TV off, please."

She was filled with lots of funny phrases today. Early in the day she walked up to Ben who was playing on the floor and said, "You're my hero, Ben." Let's just hope that sentiment continues into their adulthood! She is still obsessing over the Einstein dvds, except now she calls them, "the animal moobies." I only had to hear that phrase about 28 times today, "Mama, watch the animal moobie? Pleeeeease?"

And, according to Abuelita, Emma is channeling her inner Daddy when he was a toddler. I am told he, too, had spectacular GPS for a 2-3 year old. Last night we went to Lizi and Eric's house for dinner. We haven't been there that many times - maybe only 3 times this summer, but when we turned down their street, she questioned me excitedly, "Go Lizi's house, Mommy? See Uncle Eric??" Then today as we turned onto Sepulveda from Burbank Blvd, she said, "Mommy, go Costco?" "Yes, Emma, we are going to Costco. How did you know?" "Costco dis path, Mommy. Not dat way. Dis path!" (Meaning she knew we were going to Costco when we turned left instead of going straight.) Freakin' amazing!

Ben reached a new milestone today, too. The kid does not want to be cuddled by his mama no mo'. Everytime I fed him a bottle today, he gladly accepted it hanging out in my lap until the second he finished it - SHAZAM! "LET ME DOWN OR I WILL CONVULSE AND WIGGLE OFF YOUR LAP!" The little turkey couldn't wait to get back to the reindeer games on the floor. He still isn't crawling - thank goodness - but he is absolutely on the move, and can't stop exploring every nook and cranny of the living room floor. He was such a busy little explorer bee today that he passed out for the night at 6:45 (vs. his usual 7:15/7:30). Let's just pray he sleeps a good 12 hours like usual! (But it is kind of hot in the house tonight because I can't open the windows due to the crappy air quality. Argh.)

Dinner at my place, tonight!

We rarely take the kids out for dinner. Let me rephrase that, we rarely ever go out for dinner - for a few reasons: 1) we are stashing money away left and right and going out to dinner is expensive. 2) I prefer homecooked meals as I can control the fats and oils that go into the dishes. And 3) Emzilla.

Daddy's parents were in town for the weekend which always means a bunch of meals out. We ended up at the Cheesecake Factory last night for dinner - I haven't been there in about 8 years, and let me just say, if you go to a restaurant with an "Emzilla" that is actually a good one to go to as it is always so darn busy and noisy that you really don't hear her yelling at the top of her lungs that she wants to get down and "Go for a walk, MAAAAAAAAMMMMMIIIEEEE!"

She was an absolute beast. She wouldn't eat, she complained about being locked up in the high chair, she spit food, she dumped plates, and she stole Ben Cheerios. Finally at the end she relaxed and ate some shrimp and edamame and a couple bites of broccoli which apparently was superfood because on the VERY long walk back to the car she was crazy wired and wanted to run and dance and play in the water fountain and pick a flower and and and...

She certainly entertained her relatives!

I ordered the Wasabi Seared Ahi Tuna with rice and vegetables thinking I was getting something light. Cheesecake Factory has those little evil side menus that give you the calories and fat and sodium and carb content, I almost sh*t a brick when I saw that the dish had over 1600 calories, 48 carbs, and over 1000 mgs of sodium. That is more than an entire days nutrition in one meal. No wonder I never want to go out for dinner!

Ben continues to be seconds away from crawling. He has got his rock and lean on, just hasn't figured out how to get the hands going at the same time as the legs. Take your time, Ben!

Superheroes

Because strong, brave Ben is still deathly afraid of the vacuum cleaner, these days when I vacuum the floors I tend to hold him in my left arm and vacuum with my right. Early this evening before our dinner playdate arrived, I wanted to get the dog hair off the floors, so I busted out the vacuum. About halfway through the house I noticed that Ben wasn't crying, so I back peddled down the hall to sneak a peek at him on the floor to see if he was playing with toys or what and - dum dum dummmmm, he was missing. Gone. Nowhere to be found! I panicked for about 2 seconds when I realized I was holding the little bugger IN MY ARMS the whole time.

Silly thing is, a few days ago I was in the middle of feeding Ben when the same darn thing happened. The house seemed extraordinarily quiet so I leaned forward looking to see what was keeping him so quiet on the floor... Yep, that thing was actually a bottle in his mouth and he wasn't on the floor, he was on my lap.

I'm losing my mind.

Maybe not, Daddy did the same thing last weekend. Ha!

When Daddy is leaving for work we say, "Bye, daddy. Daddy's gonna go help families." I often refer to daddy as a 'superhero' and a 'rockstar'. Yesterday, Emma stuffed her pink purse with goodies, put on her sunglasses (upside down), and walked over to the front door saying, "Bye Mommy, Bye Benny, Emma go help families. Emma a rockstar."

Random thoughts: Emma will not eat American cheese. I hate it, too. Daddy loves it. I bought a giant costco package of it for a bbq, we used about 5 slices and I now have 50 million slices in the fridge. I try to sneak it on her sandwich every once in a while, but she figures it out after one bite and peels it off the sandwich. She LOVES medium cheddar cheese - like me - so I buy the "government" sized brick of it and slice/shred it as needed. Much yummier, and about a 1/3 of the ingredients. Anyone for a bbq? ...how else am I gonna get rid of the American crap?

Gotta run, Ben is playing with a plastic bag. They say that's dangerous...

Hmmm, maybe the Baby Einstein are working!

Today was a good day. My husband and I own our own business. Occasionally I get out into the field to help him out when we are overloaded with appointments and not enough people to do them - today was one of those days. The family in need had a 3 year old son so I brought the kiddies along to play (more like keep him occupied so his Mom and I could have a serious conversation). All three kids played amazingly well together for the 90 minutes we were there. I kept thinking how blessed I am to have children that fit in so well in any situation. Yes, they occasionally get rambunctious, but all in all they are sweet sweet souls. How lucky are we?

I had to give poor Benny tylenol twice today - those bulging top teeth are wreaking havoc, fever and hardy runny nose. He continues to smile through it all, but I wanted him to be a little more comfortable when he went to sleep - the tylenol seemed to help.

Animal obsessed Emma continued her pursuit of the never ending dvd watching of the Baby Einstein videos. We were out and about most of the day so I only had to watch 2 with her. As we were driving to Burbank for our appointment, we got off the freeway at Victory (the exit for the zoo), and she said, "GO SEE ANIMALS, MOMMY!" I thought she was talking about the dvds again, but she recognized the exit for the zoo. HOW? I have no friggin' clue. There is no sign with animals brightly painted on it, there is only a boring green highway sign with the word ZOO on it with an arrow. KID IS WAY TOO SMART FOR HER OWN GOOD.

She has done this before, she absolutely recognizes our street when we turn down it. Last week we were heading somewhere and I forgot to grab her sippy cup of milk, so we went around the block to return home so I could run in and grab it. She started freaking out from the back seat as we drove down our street because she thought we were not going to go wherever it was that we told her we were going and she was very disappointed. She didn't settle down until we were back on the road again!

At least it is classical music...

Emma wandered into our bedroom this morning and said, "Mommy, who's that guy?" - referring to her sleeping daddy in our bed. Now, that may sound a bit funny to you kids out in internet land, but it is what I say to her when Daddy is still relaxing in bed on an early morning to which she answers, "Daddy!"

She is using more and more phrases that she hears me say. Yesterday she referred to Ben as a "handsome little fella" and when she is trying to do something and isn't achieving the goal, she will say, "Oopsa-daisy."

She has also rediscovered her box set of Baby Einstein dvds and has become obsessed with them. All day for the past fews days it has been, "Mommy, watch the animals? Come on, Mommy, watch the animals." The first thing she says when she wakes up from a nap/in the morning, "Watch the animals, Mommy!" Thank goodness there are ten of them and we can get a bit of variety. Ben enjoys them, too, now if we can only figure out the whole moderation thing...

Speaking of that handsome little fella, his top two teeth are BULGING like no other. The bottom ones have come through and are about a third of the way in. We started him on Cheerios the other days and he loves them. He can't pick them up very well, pretty much mauls at them with his paws, but he usually succeeds in getting every 10th Cheerio in his mouth. Let just say the dogs really enjoy this new phase in his life. He also doesn't fit in any of his 6-9 month sleepers and I am going to have to go and get him some 12 months ones - which are hopefully too big and will last him the winter...somehow I doubt it!

Girl's night out... + ben

Ben ben ben ben ben ben ben...

Let me first start out by saying, I LOVE me the Emma, she is an absolute joy even during her Emzilla times - heck Emzilla gives me blog fodder!...

But today I had my first voice over gig of the tv season. I left the kiddos with one of the awesome Mommies from church and when I picked them up 4 hours later, Emma was happy to see me, but Ben - ben ben ben ben ben, was all, "Ma ma ma ma ma ma ma, ma ma ma ma, ma ma ma ma." Huge smiles, all limbs a wiggle waggling. He absolutely made my day in his shear joy of seeing me walk though the door. The nausea was worth it, the peeing every 12 minutes was worth it, the 2nd c-section was worth it!!

My girlfriends came over for dinner and MNF tonight. As per usual, football was watched, but more jibberjabber than anything happened. Emma was in heaven. She impressed the girls with her language skills and her ability to not only process her emotions but express them. At one point she was pissed because I made her put on her jammies and she yelled, "I'm mad!" I convinced her to calm down with our buddy Ni Hao Kai Lan's phrase, "Relax. Side to side, side to side." (Like a hula dancer.) She thought about it for a minute or two then decided to do the dance. She then proceeded to make all the gals in the room do the side to side dance, too. AWESOME. That is why a 26 month old should always be invited to girls night...

Reading is fundamental - just not at 5am.

Emma walked up to me the other day with a matter of fact look on her face and said, "Emma can't eat the play-doh, that's usskusting." Yes, little girl, eating playdoh is usskusting.

When Ben's face was covered in his dinner, Emma glanced at him and let us know that, "Ben's a giant mess."

This morning at 5:30am she was calling me from her bed, "Oh, Mommy! Mommy! Oh, Mommy!" She wasn't stressed or frightened, just pleasantly calling my name. I went in and inquired, "What's up, bugs?" "Mama," she said ever so sweetly, "read a book?" "No, sweetie pie, it's dark outside, it's sleepy time." "Mama, lay down bed." I crawled into bed with her and she asks again, "Mama, read a book?" "No, bugs, it's sleepy time." She laid quietly for about 10 minutes and I figured she had fallen back to sleep, so I slowly got up to head back to my bed and she said, "Mommy, read a book?" Persistence is not a problem for this kid.

The kids had a sleepover at Uncle Raul and Aunt Laurie's on Friday night. I slept so goooooood. The mommy in me was in the off position and I didn't wake at every little squeak or crack. I may need to farm them out more often. : )

Big Ben

Joyous morning... And by joyous I mean I got to sleep in a bit.

Our little morning bird, Ben, has been waking up progressively earlier and earlier averaging 6:15 the past few mornings. This morning he slept until 7:00, held his own bottle for breakfast, and played quietly in his playpen until 8:30 when his sister finally woke up. SWEET!

This holding his own bottle is bittersweet. I think he sees his sister holding her sippy cup and tries to be like her. He doesn't do it all the time, but when he does, like early morning it is quite nice for me. The rest of the time I don't mind helping him out still as it is snuggle time for us - I do love snuggling with the Bento... I was going to write little Bento, but he 'ain't' so little any more. He is well into the 9 month stash of clothes we have and the kid is only 7 1/2 months. All he does is smile all day long while spinning 360s on the hardwood floors (best kind of swiffer). No signs of crawling yet, and that is just fine by me!

I am from Pennsylvania.

When I picked up Emma from her playdate today, she was wearing only a diaper and her top. Her sandels were soaking wet and her pants had mud all over them. Apparently her and Porter decided it would be fun to jump in the leftover puddles made when the maintenance people watered the plants around Porter's apartment building. That is what I call a successful play date! FUN!

I was glad to see her having so much fun as she came off a pretty rough night - lots of fussing and general uncomfortableness throughout the night. I had to lay with her about 4 different times to calm her down. Her head is stuffed up again - I don't know if is a cold or she has her wisdom teeth coming in. Okay, fine they aren't her wisdom teeth, but how many teeth do 2 year olds get? Sheesh - she has all her two year molars, what else could it be...

I made chicken parmagreeka for dinner tonight. It is a dinner I stumbled on while trying to use up leftovers a few weeks ago and we fell in love with it. It is basically baked chicken topped with feta cheese and homemade chunky tomato sauce. Emma is not a fan of tomatoes, but tonight she kept asking for baked watermelon and ate a giant serving. Whatever gets her to eat it, right?

Tonight as she was getting out of the shower I had her sitting on my lap to dry her off and she kept pointing to the freckles on my legs and calling them polka dots. And just so you know, "Emma no have polky dots. Mama lotsa polky dots. Polky dots on legs. Polky dots on face. Polky dots on arms."