Rory's message from Santa!!

funny that one of the most magical moments of the season came from this silly gimmick. she loved it and promptly went to bed in her own bed last night w/o any fuss, only saying "santa knows i am working really hard on this." pure brilliance. thank you to whatever genius wrote this program. i am sure we will be watching it periodically for the next 2 weeks. gotta go wrap presents...

http://portablenorthpole.tv/watch/161d0149201b22c7a189a58e5b784ffc

oh christmas tree, oh christmas tree...

The tree is up. 2 days, 3 phone calls to parental units for advice, 1 trip to home depot, a lenthy tree wrestling match staring pat and i vs. the tree, 2 power tools, 3 saws, a living room that looks like a grand fir massacre and finally a visit from a tree elf that looked surprisingly like pat's dad- but the tree is up. Our annual trek to the deep west side for Helvetia cheeseburgers and helvetia tree farm was a success. sunny skies and super cold- but rory loved it. she is at such a fun age because she doesn't remember anything else but is old enought to be excited by it all. when i was explaining to her the process of going to get a tree and cut it down to put it in our living room, she looked at me like i was crazy and said, ''why do we do that?". good question kiddo, good question. my other favorite comment from her today was while we were home all day cleaning the house and setting up all the decorations she put her hands on her hip, holding an ornament and said, "mommy, christmas is hard!!". i agree.

like i said, the tree is up, let the festivities begin!

funny rory conversations...part 2

this was written awhile ago- but i finally got around to revisiting old posts and getting them up.


I have every intention of getting caught up on posting pics/blogging about recent events- but for the sake of being realistic i wanted to post a few things before i forgot them. also- i realize i don't use caps anymore when typing, it is because lucy removed the shift button from my computer.
conversation #1
after returning from getting a temporary (and very metallic) crown put in at the dentist rory and i were talking about dentist visits in preparation for her first visit. i thought she would be apprehensive when she saw my tooth, but instead gasped and dramatically said, "oh mom, it's gooorrrrrgeeeeooouuuussss!!!" now periodically she will ask to see my pretty tooth.


conversation #2
after a lengthy conversation about what it means to practice something (like swimming, and figuring out her new toys, her new bike, etc.) rory adds..."yeah, like how i have to practice being tall"

she makes me laugh every day.

cousins

Rory and Lucy are blessed to have 3 fabulous cousins, two of which get to act like their big brothers respectively. Watching rory and owen together is like watching a flashback to 1980- they just physically look like brady and i, not to mention the same hero worship dynamic. meanwhile- quincy is tickled to have lucy around and is so cute with her. i just think he is excited to not be low man on the totem pole anymore as evidenced by the mischevious smile/laugh he was giving while "playing stickers" with her. The other fun dynamic is rory and quincy together. they are only 3 months apart, a gap which is quickly narrowing. they look like twins and are never to be left unsupervised! owen is also super sweet with lucy, although he loves to show how strong he is by carrying her around. luckily she just sort of hangs in his arms and waits to see where it is she got transplanted. he will make a great babysitter in about 7 years. now if we could just get to see sabine more often, all would be right in the world of cousins.

Rory's understanding of college...

recent conversations we have had about college with Rory.
Conversation #1
Me- (driving by our local elementary school) Rory, there is your school that you will go to after preschool.
Rory- when i'm older?
me- yeah. you will go to that school and then middle school and then high school and then college.
Rory- will you drive me to college or will i take the yellow bus?

conversation #2
Pat- You know rory, Notre Dame is more then just football, it is a college and you could go to school there (shameless!!)
Rory- okay daddy, but I kinda of like my school- it is pretty neat.

conversation #3
Rory- mom, who's that picture of? (while looking at blogs)
me- that's mommy's friend wendy and her family
Rory- who's wendy?
me- she's a friend from college.
Rory- maybe someday i will go to college and meet her, she looks nice.

blah...

teething sucks.

monster march

We decided to make an event out of the yearly neighborhood Halloween parade and invite our toddler friends and families to join us. It was such fun and will definitely be a tradition. We had a little food and drinks, and lots of friends and family. I set up a couple of art projects for the kids to do- and they all really got into it. The baby pumkin decorating was especially popular. Another favorite was the pile of Halloween books we have collected this year. Rory loves "There's a monster at the end of this book" which was one of my favs growing up. my favorite moment of the day was watching my dad read that book to the kids in the same style he used to read it to me.

After hanging out we got into costumes and headed to the parade. My dad and Linda definitely take the cake for best adult costume and what's really cool is that linda made them! She also made Quincy's big bird costume and some of owen's batman costume. All the kids were so adorable and it was really fun for them to get to wear their costumes more then once. The parade was fun, we narrowly missed the rain and the kids loved seeing all the fun costumes. Ideas for next year include tailgating on the parade route! Thanks to all who made it and we look forward to next year.

words

we have a tie for first word from lucy. several people have heard her say "hi" and pat and i have heard her say dada. since rory's first word was dada, i am inclined to go with the hi. either way it is pretty darn cute! sorry for my horrible punctuation and lack of capitols recently- lucy removed the shift button from my laptop. that reminds me, she says dada when she sees pat, but also when she sees the computer!!

Lucy update

Lucy went down in her crib tonight awake and with NO tears!! Thanks to all for repeating what I already knew, but needed to hear. The irony is that in order to let Lucy cry, we had to get Rory out of the room, so she slept with us for several nights- now we have to retrain her. Luckily she can be bought! I haven't come accross the problem that a few m&m's can't solve (I know, not my best parenting). We are hopefully closing in on beautiful, peaceful, much needed sleep. Goodnight!

A 2AM letter to Lucy

~warning- this is the ramblings of sleep deprived mom who is using the computer to distract her and to pass the time- probably doesn't make great reading~

Day 2 of "get lucy to go to sleep in her crib and stay in her crib" project. Day one included 20 minutes of crying at bedtime- 5 wakeups between 7-midnight and mom giving in at midnight due to total exhaustion.
Tonight included only 5 minutes of crying at bedtime- but you fell asleep sitting up in your crib- pretty cute actually. And i don't remember the rest of the night- but I woke up in the chair at 1am holding you- so obviously it didn't go as planned. 1:45 Dad took Rory downstairs for a slumber party leaving me and you to battle this out. 2:43am- all is quiet. 2:47 more crying.

Dear Lucy,
I thought that i should write to you tonight because somehow i don't remember having this sleep problem with rory and so maybe, god willing, i will forget this someday too. Here is what i know. I know you want to sleep in my bed. I don't blame you- it is WAY better then your crib, however you can't have a cozy down comforter of your own until you get older, so cozy minky blankets will have to do. I know you want to sleep with me. I don't blame you, i am super cuddly! You are also my daughter which means you will prefer to sleep snuggled with your feet tucked under someone (anyone really) for the rest of your life. I know that i am sorry. I HATE to hear you cry. If it were just you and me, I would let you sleep in my arms until you were 20 if you wanted- but it's not and I can't. I promise i will pay for therapy to correct any deep seeded abandonment issues i am creating tonight. (okay- that was totally my projecting- sorry) . I know that you can do this. everyone learns to sleep eventually, the sooner the better kiddo. I know that I can do this. you are round 2 so you don't get to prey on my vulnerabilities like your sister did. I know that I will survive this, that we will all eventually sleep 6, 8, maybe 10 hours at one time.(that seems like crazy talk at this point- but I am pulling an Oprah and just putting it out there. my vision board would just have a big pillow on it. and maybe a really long shower. but I digress...)I know that I get to win- because I am the mom and I have something you don't- caffiene. Props to you for the short intervals of quiet- that is brilliant. You must know that will wear me down much faster then just constant crying. I know that I love you very much. I have been playing my "instant vs. long term gratification" lecture (yes, mommy used to do things like give lectures!) in my head all night. I would never let you feel any sort of discomfort if i didn't know that it was for your greater good. I know that the persistance, determination, strong will, and dedication you are showing tonight will serve you so well in your life. I just hope next time we get to play on the same team! I love you, goodnight. ~Mom
3:05 all's quiet....for now.

technical difficulties

can't seem to change the dates of 2 old posts that i just finished so if you want to see them they are dated aug. 26th about sunriver and sept. 15 about a mid-year check in. just an FYI

what do 4 adults do in a house with 4 sleeping babies?

ROCKBAND!!

a glimpse at my future....

1/2 year check in...written a few weeks ago

So lucy recently turned 6 months old and Rory is weeks away from being officially 2 1/2. I felt I should update a little about where they are at this point in time, more for my memory's sake then anything. Pat has been gone to vegas and then on a business trip, so it has been "girls night out, woooohoooo" ~rory, every night. I keep using Pat's absence as an excuse/motivation for her to get things done, for instance "Let's redecorate the bathroom and suprise daddy" or "let's put away all your toys and reorganize them so that when daddy gets home he will be surprised." It backfired last night when rory told me, "mommy, I love murphy (my mom's dog). We should go get a dog so we can suprise daddy!" yes Rory, that would certainly be a suprise and no. rory is loving school, continues to be amazingly verbal, and has had recent huge growth spurts. Pat noticed that she no longer has toddler legs- she is a string bean of a girl- no more baby!

Lucy continues to be one of the most active babies I have known. constantly moving. she is crawling and lights up with smiles at the drop of a hat. she loves to play and is very vocal about it. she watches rory like a hawk and you can see her trying to mimic her. we are starting to sign with her and she is starting to get the wave thing down. She continues to be a good sleeper- but prefers being near someone for best results- she is a total cuddle bug.

1st day of school!!

I love school!! It was only preschool- but so much fun taking Rory to her first day today.

Pat suprised us and came home from work to escort Rory on her first day. I was so proud of her, she just kissed us goodbye and away she went. This is when I wish I was a good writer so that I could accurately describe the variety of emotuons that today held. I contemplated hanging around "just in case", but decided that if something goes awry that it would be better for her to deal on her own from the very beginning. BTW- Pat went back to look through the window TWICE- it was very cute! The end of class report from teacher Angie was all positive. I got the sense that Rory was a bit quieter then usual, but I can just imagine her standing there watching the kids and trying to figure it all out. I guess there were some brief tears when another girl painted Rory's hair and face green, but she recovered and was all smiles by the time I got there to pick her up. The funny thing is, Lucy was out of sorts all day- I think she missed Rory!! As Rory was going down for her nap today here was the conversation.

Rory "I can't go to sleep mom, I have to go to school"

Me "You already went to school this morning, we just got home from school"

Rory with a giggle "Oh yeah, I forgot!"

It obviously didn't leave a lasting impression.