Marriage

I almost forgot this part. I need to post really fast so I can go to bed. Anyway, Lacy is obsessed with marriage. She always puts on an "agent" ring and her wedding ring (in the right order, I might add) and talks about being married, who she will marry, her wedding, having a flower girl, etc etc etc. She says she is going to marry her 2nd cousin, Jonathan, who visited us recently. She tells us ALL THE TIME that she is going to marry Jonathan. Yesterday, Dave overheard her, in a singsongy voice, saying, "Jonathan and Lacy, sittin' in a tree, K-I-S-S-T-N-V."

Oh yeah-- it's Tuesday. We can watch TV again.

So, TV free week is over and it was a great success. In fact, instead of automatically turning on the TV at Rose's nap time, now I ask Lacy what she wants to do while Rose goes to sleep. For the last couple days, she hung out and waited for me. This evening she finally remembered that TV free week is over. So today she kept asking to watch "Joy To the World," her favorite movie. I think tomorrow she'll probably remember that she's allowed to watch TV again. Darn, I was hoping we could get out of the watch TV while I nurse Rose rut. At least we got a week and a half out of it! And I know we can get by without TV in our home, if it came down to it. I really appreciated Dave's support during last week. He normally comes home and watches TV, but last week he waited until the girls were asleep to turn it on. Thanks, Dave, you're awesome.

Lacy's quite the mama lately. It's very sweet. She is always playing with her dolls, or pretending that she's the mom and I'm the daughter. And she calls me Jessica a lot. I don't know why. Before it was Rachel. And her baby is almost always named Bella. I think for her birthday I'm going to sew a bunch of doll clothes for her. I think she'll like that. Anyway, the cute thing about this is that she is always nursing them and putting them down for naps. They always take naps on the big bed. Because, according to Lacy, babies pee on the potty and sleep in the big bed. That's her experience, therefore all babies do that. She knows, in theory, what cribs and diapers are for, and pretends to be a baby in a crib sometimes, but I think it's one of those "they have a crib and use it sometimes but it's not the baby's bed" type of a concept. That's how I was with bottles when I was a kid. I had no idea that some people didn't breastfeed. It was a total shock to me when I became an adult and found out that this wasn't something everyone did. Seriously.


On Saturday we went to the Procession of the Species, a very unique Olympia parade. It was so much fun! Lacy got a dog poop flower (a "dog" was on a walk and "pooped" a flower barrette). They gave it to the kid next to us, who didn't want it, so they gave it to Lacy, who looooooved it. She's a huge fan of flowers. In fact, I never knew how beautiful a dandelion was until I had children. I get daily bouquets of dandelions now. But I digress. We went last year as well. I plan to attend every year I can. It is so fun. Unfortunately Dave was working so he couldn't go with us.

Lacy's poop barrette

The monkey tree was really cute. There were lots of fun "animals" at this years procession.

After the parade, we had a sort of impromptu bar-b-que. It was going to be at Kurt's house, but Turner fell asleep so we had it at Leslie's instead. The girls had fun, but I was trying to keep Rose from falling off the balcony the whole time. Lacy just jumped on the trampoline for hours and had fun. While we were there, Dale gave Lacy a cute little Chinese dress that he picked up in Chinatown in LA. It is so cute! She wore it to church on Sunday. I should have gotten pictures, but I'm a bad mom and didn't do it. Sorry.


Sunday was pretty uneventful, other than Rose falling off the stage at church. She cried for probably 10-15 minutes, and was not acting like herself all night. We almost took her into the emergency room, but so far we have had exactly 0 trips to the emergency room and we didn't want to break our record. Well, that's not the real reason we didn't go (obviously). We checked her for signs of concussions, kept an eye on her all night, and determined she was totally fine, just probably had a little headache from the fall.

Yesterday I went to Costco and Fred Meyer. I spent way too much money. I just stocked up on some groceries and got gas, and by the time I got home I was $300 poorer. I've been making an effort to combine errands and drive a lot less, with an ultimate goal of not driving at least 2 days a week. After shopping and naps, I took the girls to the neighborhood park (walking distance! Bonus!) because they can't play in our yard and it was a beautiful day. Our grass is just starting to come up, so they really have to stay off it as much as possible. Lacy and I did plant a bunch of seeds on Monday, though, and we're really hoping they come up! I'm praying no more freezing temperatures! I had just transplanted some starts when it froze that very night! Darn weather.com-- you were wroooong! Liars!

And today. I really should blog every day, or close to it, because the kids do so much stuff and I don't want to forget any of it. They're so fun. Today was an at home day, so I did some chores around the house and we hung out. Later we got a little stir crazy, so I took the girls on a walk and they played at the park again. I brought home some huge dandelion bouquets and have them in water. I've been really worried about Rose's speech, since she only says about 50 words, which is on the low end of normal for her age. She doesn't pair words together, and she doesn't call herself by her name. She does sign a lot, though, and after making an effort to really listen carefully, I discovered she was saying a lot more than I thought (originally I was thinking she had about one or two dozen words, tops). Today she called herself WOSE! And I think she's just an artistic person and doesn't really need to speak. She sings constantly, though. She's almost always humming, or singing some gibberish words to some indeceipherable tune. It's very cute. Mark my words, she'll be my musical child.

Here are the girls after the trip to the park yesterday. The double stroller is so big and bulky I don't like to take it much anywhere unless they're both going to be in it for a while. I like Lacy to stretch her legs and walk as much as possible, but she gets tired on the way home, so I let her climb in the stroller with Rose.

To Market, To Market

Today we went to the Farmer's Market to check it out and pick up a few things. I met my friend Emily there with her kids. There was live music there that we all enjoyed. Lacy and Wynnie danced (ballroom-style, but without much rhythm), and Lacy introduced herself to vendors. At one point, she said, "Hi! I'm Lacy. And this is my husband Danner" (Emily's son). Emily and I cracked up at that one. I came home with some seeds for beans, some swiss chard, collard greens, asparagus, and an apple each for the girls (free at one of the booths). Oh, and some dahlia bulbs. $2 for a big bag of them. Sweet!

As soon as we came home, Rose went down for her nap. So Lacy and I started gardening! I've almost finished up the front yard, and after Rose woke up, we transplanted some starts and planted some seeds. I'm really excited to watch them grow. We had a nice, busy day today, and I'm tired. Gardening is hard work!

I'm GYM GIRL!!!!!

Today was Lacy's first day of gymnastics. I had been wanting to put her in some sort of organized sport or dance for a long time, but I wasn't sure what type to put her in. I decided on gymnastics after talking to a gymnastics instructor in my ward. This will help her learn coordination, and she'll have more chances to socially interact. Lacy is naturally quite shy, so I like to expose her to other people when I can. Usually we go to story time, and she always has her class at church, but lately I felt like she needed something else in addition. Regardless, I feel like gymnastics will be a good base for her, to prepare her for whatever athletics she wants to participate in. Plus, it was during the day, and most dance classes are in the evenings. I'm not ready to give up our evenings yet. Lacy was so excited when I told her we were signing her up, and this morning when I told her we were going to gymnastics that day, she literally bounded out of bed and got ready. She wore her purple leotard, with her panties that stuck out of the sides. I'm not sure how other kids manage to have their panties stay in place, but she was the only panty-shower in the group. At first I thought perhaps it was due to her lack of bottom, but my sister informed me that isn't the case, as her juicy-bummed daughter had the same problem as my Lacy.

Can't you just see the excitement resonating from this girl? She was soooo excited, and had such a good time! They did a lot of things, and the gym had tons of fun stuff in it, in addition to all the advanced gymnastics equipment you see in the Olympics. Personally, I could never do gymnastics because the chalk they rub on their hands makes my skin crawl. I had to do gymnastics when I when to JFK and I hated that stuff. Yuck. Anyway, I watched Lacy running around, and tried to corral Rose at the same time, who kept asking to nurse, but I kept turning her down. Poor girl. Next week we will participate in the toddler parent-child class, and hopefully that will keep her from being too bored! Another mother suggested I put in a movie for her, but we're observing TV turnoff week, and I didn't want to break it when we've done so well all week! After class, Lacy was happy and excited about going next week. She loves her teacher, who called her Miss Lacy. She usually loves the adults in a group, and says her primary teacher is her best friend. I did notice that Lacy's demeanor is very different from the other children in the class. Lacy is quiet and kind of spacey, not very rambunctious and not a lot of energy. I'm thinking it may be due to lack of sleep (but not for lack of trying to regulate her sleep-- I think it's an airway anatomy thing and we're seeing an ENT about it next week). But I could be wrong (it's happened before-- once or twice).

I love this picture. Lacy is turning into GYM GIRL, ready to save the day from evil villains trying to rid the world of panty-showing clothing! By day, she is Lacy Lovely, a mild-mannered preschooler, carefully observing the world around her, ready to change into her alter-ego, GYM GIRL, any time the world needs saving!

Rose is ready to go, too. I've actually been worried about Rose's speech development, and she seems behind compared to where Lacy was at this age. So, I read up a little on speech delay, and I'm convinced she's within the realm of normal, especially considering she uses sign language a lot, too. I started writing down the words she knows, and after 30 words I realized that she knows a lot more than I was giving her credit for. She probably has a regular vocabulary of 5o words, expanding daily by one or two words, at least. At that rate, I won't be surprised if she catches up with her sister in a year! Not only that, she is very good at communicating, and Lacy speaks a lot for Rose, so she doesn't need to talk as much as Lacy did.

Lacy fell asleep tonight like this. Hi-larious. I took the book away after she was like this for, oh, an hour.

Better get to bed. Last night I was asleep at this time! That's what you get when you stop watching TV and reading trashy celebrity gossip websites (shame on me) and mind-numbing (but oh so fun!) bulletin boards!

Check out that winning smile!

Here is Lacy's tooth a few days ago. This one you can see the decay on the side tooth there, but you can't see the molar decay. The first picture is a little fuzzy, but trust me-- it's so much better than it was before.

Today was the big day! Lacy's dentist appointment. It's been about a year since the decay was first diagnosed. It's a miracle that Evil Dental didn't pull the darned thing before they dropped us. Thank goodness her appointments kept on being canceled! I dropped off Rose at Leslie's house, and after a few minutes we set off to the dentist's office. First thing they did was weigh her. She is 31 pounds (and 40 inches tall, on the nose!). A couple minutes later, they gave her the juice (medicine to make them all woozy). It didn't seem to affect her much, because she kept playing. Mostly she was playing baby and mother. There was a doll there, and she got very creative with the play. She would nurse the baby and put her down for a nap a lot. I was so proud! After about an hour, we were taken back (the hour is for the medication to take effect- they were not running behind at all). They put some bubble gum stuff on her nose (nitrous oxide) and put a pulse reader on her finger, and the dentist did his work in only about 10 minutes. There were other people there when we got there, waiting for their turn after they drank the juice. The dentist didn't have to wait long at all between patients. It was all very smooth and smart. Evil Dental-- take note. This is how you can avoid a back log of 3 month appointment waits. They would schedule one of my kids for an hour, and nobody else would be scheduled during this time. So she would only be able to see about 8 people a day, depending on how long the procedures took. I estimate that our new wonderful dentist can see between 25-50 people a day with the way his appointments are set up. It was so great seeing how efficient he was. And GOOD! You can't really tell because the picture is kind of fuzzy, but her teeth look great!

Rose had to copy her sister's smile. And that front tooth that is all chipped and broken? That was repaired by Evil Dental. Twice.

One of Dave's favorite times of the day is when he can read to Lacy. They started reading My Father's Dragon. Dave says it is weird, but it came highly recommended. I say give it more time. Lacy and I are reading Charlotte's Web and we just finished Little House in the Big Woods.

We had a hail storm yesterday. This is during the storm. Plus you can see our completed back yard. We love it!


And this last picture I included because I love Rose's expression.

A conversation with Lacy

Mom, who I going to marry?
I don't know, Lacy.
Mom, I'm going to tell you a secret. (whispers in my ear) I'm going to marry Jonathan.
Your second cousin that was just visiting us?
Yes. What's his last name?
It's XXXXXX, just like ours.
XXXXXX? N as in Nancy, D as in David?

I guess my sweet pea listens to me a lot on the phone! Our last name (which I don't like to use on my blog for personal reasons) is difficult for most people to pronounce and spell, and it often sounds like I'm saying something else even if I spell it out, so I always give them a reference point for the consonants in my last name.

.........

I had the bright idea today to take the kids to a violin concert! Two of my nephews were performing, so I took them, and they did a great job! Unfortunately, my kids didn't do so great there. Lacy reminisced about her daddy daughter date to Rapunzel, which took place in the same theatre as the concert, and informed me that her daddy built the building (he did help with certain aspects of construction of that building, but I think Lacy has the idea that her daddy built the whole thing by himself). But Rose didn't want to sit still, and just climbed up and down stairs and made lots of noise. She would sit still for longer periods of time for Leslie, but then would want me again, and wouldn't stay for more than 3o seconds in our seat.

After the concert, I took Lacy and Rose shopping at Toys R Us to prepare for the upcoming TV free week. I wanted to get Lacy some really cool stuff to do while I put Rose down for a nap, that she is only allowed to play with during that time, so she will not want to watch TV. That's the only time she ever watches TV anyway, so it's not really a big deal to give it up (for her). It's going to be harder for me, since I will be going "screen free," other than minimal computer usage to check and update blogs and email and bills. But I digress. We were pretty much done shopping, and walked by the dress ups section. Lacy is a HUGE fan of dress ups. There was a particular dress she HAD to have, and I'm not one to buy her things when she begs and pleads for them. She's already spoiled enough, I don't need to add to it! Anyway, she had a big tantrum in the middle of the store, and I wasn't able to calm her down. I ended up scooping her up, football style, and taking her out of the store kicking and screaming. I got a lot of sympathetic and "Glad it's you not me" looks from other customers. I completely ignored her on the way home, since she was still having a giant tantrum, and I won't egg her on by acknowledging it. When we got home, I put her in time out, on her bed, and she wasn't allowed out until she was calm. That seems to work the best for her. After a while she was finally calm, but had a couple more mini-tantrums later that day. Lovely.

I clocked out about 5 o'clock today. Unfortunately Dave didn't get in until 6:30, so I did my best to keep going until Dave got home. Thankfully, the girls adore their dad and try to emulate him in every way possible. His homecoming is the highlight of their day. In the following pictures, they are wearing his bandanas. Don't they look deliciously adorable in them? Especially Rose, for some reason, I just want to eat her up.


Lacy pretending she had a mustache

We ended up having a BBQ tonight with our friends Emily and Bill and their four kids. It was at our house, which is a switch since their house is much larger, but it was fun. Lacy loves playing with them, and they totally trashed the play room (which is fine since I can't even count how many times Lacy's assisted in trashing their rooms!). We had steak and salads, and Dave cooked up some scallops we ate as an appetizer. Ice cream for dessert. They were over until 9:30, which was fine since the kids' sleep schedule is totally screwed up anyway. Lacy crashed soon after they left, and Rose didn't until 10:30. She likes to nurse to sleep, but then wakes up immediately if I put her down. Then I have to rock her to sleep. After TV free week is over, we're working on her bedtime routine! I actually might work on naps first, then consistent wake up time, then bedtime. I'm not sure. All I know is, she needs to get on a schedule or Mama is going to go nuts. Her inability to sleep coupled with Lacy's stall tactics (MOM! I have to pee! MOM! Daddy forgot to brush my teeth! MOM! I need a drink of water! Etc, ad nauseum) is making me a candidate for the mental hospital!

Houseguests

We had Dave's cousin Rick and four of his children spend the night with us last night. They were a great family and I'm glad I got to meet them! They are in town because their oldest, Hannah, is in regionals for a debate tournament. I'm hoping she kicks some serious booty and makes it to nationals! The last time Dave saw Rick and Hannah, she was still a baby, and was an only child, so it had been a while! With Rick and Hannah were Jeannette, Jonathan, and Nathanial. My kids adored their second cousins. So much so that Lacy's excitement got the best of her, and she was awake until 11 last night, despite being put to bed hours earlier! Regardless, we were grateful to get to spend time with family, and hope to meet his wife and other two children sometime in the near future.

Rick celebrated his 40th birthday today while they were at our house, and unfortunately I realized after they left I forgot to wish him a happy birthday! So, if you're reading this Rick, I hope you had a great 40th! I was thinking it, but I never said it!

I managed to get a couple pictures with the kids, and just one with Rick and the girls, that didn't turn out too well because of the dual light source.



Who knew that all I needed to entertain my kids was to get the glass repaired in my truck? On Tuesday morning, Dave drove to work in the truck (unusual for him, but I had to get the car checked out at the dealership that day). There was already a crack in the windshield, and a bird hit it, and it cracked all the way up, right through his line of sight. He absolutely couldn't drive around like that, lest he get a ticket, so I called Safelight Auto Glass right away for an appointment, and they came out to my house to repair the glass. The girls were absolutely fascenated with the whole ordeal. When it came time to pay, I said to Sean, our installer, "Bet you didn't know you were performing today!" The girls watched him from an open door, and at least Lacy sat there the entire time while I folded laundry. I managed to get a picture or two of them being entertained by the glass man!



And one more of cutie Rose, taken by Dave's cousin Rick this morning!

My cute girls

I love how much they love each other. Most of the time. Here they're sitting on their box playhouse. They love to climb up it all the time, and tap dance on the roof. That makes me crazy, but so does a lot of things they do! At least they're friends!

Today I got rid of my Doc Martins. I wore them almost every day in high school after I got them for my 16th birthday. Ah, memories. Well, when I wore them, I put in rainbow shoelaces, but those broke off so long ago. I donated them to Goodwill, but I had to take a picture for memory's sake. I briefly considered taking a picture of me wearing them, but we were already late to our appointment at the doctor's office, so I opted to just take a picture and donate them. I'm almost sad I got rid of them, but I don't think I've worn them even once since I got married almost 8 years ago, so what's the point in keeping them any longer?
Today we went to the Apple Cider Mill. It was so much fun! The weather was great, and we had a lot of fun! Here is my nephew Cooper with a goat sniffing him, or maybe he's trying to eat him. I'm not sure.
Here is the goat and one of her kids that were born that day! It was very exciting to see such a new life in front of us.
The peacock decided to show off for us! Beautiful!

Rose and Turner, being cute for the camera.We had such a good time. Lacy was in 7th heaven, looking at all the cute baby animals! There were so many different animals to look at-- ducks, guineas, peafowl, rabbits, goats, sheep, cattle, chickens, and a pig! They have gardens and a field for crops and lots and lots of animals. And apples are only $.89 a pound there everyday! And they're GOOD! Plus the cider and freshly made donuts are a big bonus. After we had wandered around looking at all the animals, I bought a dozen donuts and a bag of apples and some raspberry apple cider. I shared the donuts with all my sister's kids (she brought all 6 of them, and it was quite a riot!) and with my kids. The spring flowers were blooming and the animals were all new, and other than the misbehavior of several children (I'm not naming any names here, but you know who you are!) it was a glorious day!

Cute Randomness

OK, first the not so cute, because I promised pictures of our yard...

This is when they first started.





Break time!
The topsoil...

And that's what the yard looks like now. I wish you could see the whole thing at once in a photograph. It looks so much bigger than it did before. The down side is that our fence broke. Dave expects the contractors to fix it, though.

The rest of the pictures are just random cute pictures, all from this month. In my clothes (and Dave's tie)

Rose with my friend Emily's daughter Esme (she's 4.5 months old, born on Thanksgiving!)

Rose, reading to her doll

Dave and Lacy, chillin
Lacy and I both nursing our babies at the same time
Silly pants head girls
I love this face. So innocent. She's such a sweetheart.

We started reading Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder this week. Lacy loves it! I thought maybe she was old enough for simple chapter books, and I was right! She will sit there and listen and is so interested in Laura and her Ma and Pa and sister Mary and baby sister Carrie. I've got to figure out what else to read her when this is done. I've been told by a very reliable source that the next books in the series are probably a bit too much for a 3 year old. I have no idea what else to read her! Any ideas? I love that my kids are major readers!

We're also participating in National TV Free week, the 4th week of April. It's going to be hard! I rely on TV to entertain Lacy while I put Rose down for a nap. Generally, that's all the TV she gets for the day (between 30 minutes and 1.5 hours, depending on how difficult Rose decides to be that day!). I've got to get a lot of fun ideas for things that she can do independently while I work on putting her sister down for her nap! Also, I will be participating, but I'll also participate by having screen-free week. So, no surfing the internet for me. I have allowed myself to update this blog, my family's blog, check email, and complete necessary transactions online. Other than that, I will be off the net. Dave is thrilled. I'm not, but it's a goal and I'm going to do it.


Got to get to bed! I'm trying to be in bed by 11 every night. I've already failed tonight, but I can still make it by 11:30 if I hurry!

Hi, I'm Dave

said Lacy this morning when she first got up. She wasn't dressed, so after she got done with breakfast, I told her she needed to get dressed for the day. "I'm a boy and I wear boy underwear, not panties."

"Well, we don't have any boy underwear. So you need to pretend they're boy underwear, OK?"

"OK," she replied in her lowest "man" voice, "I want princess underwear. Yes, those ones." Her voice is still as deep as she can get it.

"Now we need to choose a shirt. Which one would you like."

Still in her low voice, "The flower one."

"And how about your pink boy stretch pants to go along with it?"

"OK."

She later went on to say that she "goes to work" and her work is fishing, and that she had a headache (a constant refrain of Dave's).

And WAIT till you see what we've done with the yard! I'll post pictures later! Maybe on my family's blog, but I'll try to post today!

I just had the best conversation

...while cleaning up puke from my darling little Lacy. She has a very sensitive reflex, so when she has a cold, sometimes puking ensues. This time, it didn't require a bath, but it did require a change of sheets and pajamas. While I was cleaning everything up, we had a great conversation about, well, nothing, really. We talked about when Santa will be coming next, so then I explained to her the concept of months, and told her each of the months. When I said July, her face lit up, "Like my birthday!" Then she had to ask about all my sister's kids birthday months. I was surprised she knew right away what month Rose was born in. Then we talked about how much we loved each other. Me: "I love you as big as the sky!" Lacy: "I love you as big as the UNICORN!" Dave started saying this game with her and said "I love you as big as the universe," but of course Lacy has no concept of the universe, so she took something that she does understand the context of. Plus, she's somewhat obsessed with unicorns at the moment.

Even with Dave's heavy work schedule, he's been doing a lot of yard work lately. I've been trying to help him out, so today the kids and I spent a couple hours outside, the whole time I was raking or picking up branches and putting them in a pile, or spreading bark around the garden (we didn't get nice garden bark, it's actually the bark that fell off our wood that we have for burning. So it's in huge chunks, like 6"x15" pieces). The girls have their outdoor boots that I'm getting them in the habit of taking off as they come in the house. Hopefully this will keep the mess to a minimum in the house. Maybe I'll buy them some crocs for the summer, because I wouldn't want to be wearing hot rain boots all summer long!

Alas, I'd better go to bed. Lacy just really made me happy and I needed to blog about it. She's such a little sweetie.