Karma

Today was a crazy day. I'm just now sitting back and reflecting on the day. Ella slept 15 hours last night (one feeding after 12 hours of sleep) and when she woke at 9:30 a.m. I wasn't really sure what to do. I decided we'd go to the pool and Ella could take her first (short) nap at the pool in her stroller. Wrong. My kids don't like to sleep in strollers. They like their beds.

So after playing for about 45 minutes at the pool Ella was getting testy and sleepy. Last week I'd made an arrangement with Stephy (Jackie and Thomas' daughter) that I would trade my cell phone with hers (apparently mine is desirable). Since Ella was getting sleepy and Stephy was at the pool I left Lilly at the pool and I went to Verizon with Ella to switch cell phones. Ella passed out immediately in her car seat.

While I was at Verizon waiting patiently, Ella was playing with my sunglasses. She kept dropping them on the floor. The young kids behind me had a baby and were engaging Ella and I became sidetracked and I guess I left the glasses on the floor. Verizon told me it would be about a 30 minute wait so I walked down to Macy's so I could feed Ella in a dressing room. After I fed her I walked out and noticed a wad of cash on the floor in another empty dressing room. I picked up the cash and headed out to see if anyone was nearby and could have dropped it. The store was empty so I gave the cash to the young man that was at the register and went on my way. I realized at this time that my sunglasses were not in the stroller and that I must have left them at Verizon on the floor. I headed back that way and looked for my glasses. I also asked the sales people if they were turned in. Seems someone took off with my sunglasses. I had to laugh at the poetic injustice of it all.

I finally got back to the pool and watched Lilly "play" with Lindsay for some time. Here they are; frick and frack... (taken with "new" camera phone - that's one thing I will miss on my cell phone).
This is what they spend a lot of the day doing... (not sure why it's small)
And here's Lilly (after pushing Lindsay out of the picture).
Stephy realized she couldn't make or receive any calls on her new/my old cell phone so I called Verizon and spent some time getting that straight and then headed home. The day felt crazy to me. I don't know why. Maybe because it wasn't as I had originally planned. Or maybe because it just seems so wrong that I would turn over a bunch of cash at the same moment that someone else was walking off with my sunglasses. I'm not sure but I do know that I did the right thing. And for that, I'll be able to sleep tonight.

Monday

I didn't take a single picture for 3 days. That's bound to be some sort of record. It was kind of nice! No camera, no pictures, no blogging. I love all of the aforementioned but it was very liberating to not do any of them for 3 whole days. It wasn't planned but Andy took off Friday so we had a nice long weekend of pool fun. We hung out at the pool until 6:00 p.m. each day. Today I'm taking a break from the pool and catching up around the house.

If you missed us, here's what's been happening...

Ella's now sitting in a big girl seat at the kitchen table. She also eats puffs, wagon wheels, teether biscuits, crackers, and assorted baby foods.She's also working on using a sippy cup (water only).
Lilly's been swimming like a champ! She's overcome much of her fear in the water and now likes to play in the "big pool". She plays on the steps with her friends and can even walk around in the shallow end. She's very cautious of the water but for her first summer in a pool,I think she's doing well.

She's also still working on looking at the camera and smiling.
Ella love, love, loves her baby sister. That's a fact.
And today, for the first time ever, she ate (a little bit of) a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. She has always been afraid of peanut butter since we kept her off of it until she was 3. Then she decided she didn't like it (but I think it was fear talking). And today I convinced her to have 1/2 of a pb&j. She ate about 1/3 of it. But that's a step in the right direction.

Pool Days

Today we went to the pool (yes it was rainy and dark and cloudy). This was my big brainstorm and it worked! I still held my arm behind Ella to make sure she didn't fall but at least she was able to have some fun. Lilly's pretty easy at the pool and hangs out on the big pool steps, with her friend Lindsay, with an assortment of older kids, or in the baby pool. We packed her lunch and stayed for a few hours; until Ella was sooo tired. Now Ella's asleep in her crib and Lilly's passed out on the couch. And I am enjoying the peace and quiet.

Enchanted Dreams

With all this rain (24 days and counting) I was thrilled when a mom from Lilly's dance class called and asked if I wanted to take Lilly to Enchanted Dreams for a princess play date. It is a little studio in Haddonfield that hosts princess-themed birthday parties, tea parties, and more. I was more than happy to take Lilly to spend an hour in princess land with her dance friends. They even told us (moms) to sit back, enjoy coffee, and relax. Heavenly!

The girls each picked out a princess dress to wear.

I'm not sure what they were saying but they were so happy. This is the five of them (the tallest is a sibling).

They played instruments to The Little Mermaid; Lilly's favorite CD in the world.

Princess parade...

They did a craft as well. At one point the young hostess said to Lilly, "You're the best listener!" Yay!

And again, our sweet Ella hung out and cooed and smiled.

They ended the play date with cookies and juice. Lilly told me it was "so much fun Mama!" Music to my ears...

Bounce U

This week I decided I had to get out of the house and take Lilly to do some fun things instead of sitting in the house all day while it rains. One day we went to Bounce U for a 2 hour preschool jump session. Kids 7 and under can play for 2 hours and it includes a snack and juice... all for $7.95. Lilly LOVES bouncing, jumping, running, hopping, skipping, etc. She jumped right on the first thing she saw! She didn't stop playing for 1.5 hours...

This is Lilly's nervous look (yes, she has one). She puts her fingers in her mouth and gives me this "look" every time she's unsure about something. I finally captured it on film. This is how she was feeling before entering the obstacle course.

It didn't take her long to hop right in and have some fun.

This is what Ella did the entire time.

And this... She enjoyed some peaches and crackers.

Blurry but you get the idea...

Ella finally got out of her stroller and enjoyed a ride in her hot rod.

But this was my favorite part of the day. I decided to let Lilly run and do her thing and I tried really hard to not intervene (Lilly does best when I leave her be). At one point a little (big?) girl gave her some trouble in line and Lilly did her best to give it right back to her. Though Lilly can be assertive and at times aggressive (though this has greatly diminished) she is usually pretty submissive to older/bigger kids. But when they give her lip unfairly she does try to put in her 2 cents and this little girl told Lilly to get to the back of the line. Lilly did it but she told her it "wasn't nice" and I enjoyed watching it all go down.

Congratulations to Daddy

Andy was been appointed to the Director of Curriculum and Instruction for his current school district! The decision was finalized last night after her went in front of the Board of Education at a Board Meeting. I'm so proud of him and am super excited he won't have to spend his day dealing with discipline and parent phone calls (and all the other "junk" that came along with his principal job).

We love you! Way to go!!!

A Story

I love so many things about taking pictures. One of the greatest things is the story behind the picture. The story behind a picture is often lost when the pictures are shared without explanation. But to constantly explain pictures would get very boring and tedious. Instead I focus on taking and sharing nice pictures where either the children look cute or the lighting is right or the colors are vibrant. But every so often there are pictures that have to take a back seat because they're not pretty enough. I thought I'd share some of the stories behind the pictures today and let the prettiness take a back seat.

I love these pictures for a few reasons. First of all they are in their first pair of matching pajamas (thanks Nana Kay!) and Lilly was very happy about that. But in this first picture I love the discord. Lilly is working so hard on looking at me and smiling (yes, she's finally taking an interest in what she looks like in a picture) and Ella is oblivious and focused on one thing... the cat. I love how hard Lilly worked on looking at me yet her eyes are still cut to the side.
And I really love this picture because the emotion is raw. Ella decided to go for the cat after all and in the process she hurt Lilly (she's 2/3 of Lilly's weight). As Lilly let out a cry Ella looked at me to see what happened and if everything was ok. Love her concerned expression.
In this picture Ella is giving me a look she often gives... it's anticipatory and it's familiar to me.
The girls were laughing here and I love their laughter. Lilly was making Ella laugh and I love how Lilly's blurred in the background but in full laughter and again, Ella's looking at me for approval.
Lilly looks so different in this picture. She was trying so hard to give me what I've always wanted - her to look at me and smile. She's looking at me but it's so unnatural and uncomfortable for her that the smile is forced and different. She looks really grown up to me in this picture and when I was taking it I thought to myself, 'where has my baby girl gone?'
I love how Lilly wanted me to see her outfit here. She still shifted her eyes but that's how she's most comfortable and she wanted the focus to be on her outfit; not her. Ella's doing what Ella does best... she's just hanging out doing her own thing.
Lilly loves her sister so much. She's sensitive and compassionate and she truly wants Ella to be happy. Here she did not expect me to snap a picture (hence the eye contact). She was letting me know that Ella had started crying and was genuinely worried about her.
And here's my big girl. Growing up so fast. And she was so very proud that she looked AT me and wanted to immediately see the picture. She said "See Mama? Now you can take my picture and not Ella's!" Usually when I can't get her to look at me I switch subjects and take pictures of Ella. I guess she's figured that out... I'm just glad to finally see her pretty eyes through my lens without begging for it.
While these don't look like the best pictures in the world they are all very meaningful to me. I have over 14,000 pictures of the girls and while that's surely excessive I cannot bring myself to delete them once I snap the shot. There's always something I can take from a picture and if I delete it that memory will be gone forever.

40 Days and 40 Nights

Sometimes it's hard to fill a rainy day. It's even harder to fill a week of rainy days. Lilly no longer naps. She would like to spend the entire day lying on the couch watching TV so I try to keep TV to a minimum (though I'm not always successful, that's for sure). Today she announced she'd like to tell jokes and play Hide 'n Seek. So that's exactly what we did. We also squeezed in an hour at the pool.

I love how Lilly takes my hiding place each time it's her turn to hide. So cute.

Ella hung out on my lap at the pool and slept while we played. Now we're heading back to the pool before Lilly's first summer dance class tonight.

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day Andy!

You are an amazing father, loving husband, and wonderful person. I love how much you adore our girls. I am so proud of your hard work and dedication to your family, job and your doctorate. I really appreciate all the sacrifices you make for our family. You work so hard so that I can be home to raise our girls and you get very little rest because of it!

So today is your day of rest. Enjoy it!
Happy Father's Day - we love you!

7 Months!?!?

How is it our baby is 7 months old today? It seems impossible. I feel like it was just last night that I went into labor. The time has truly flown. Ella is a sweet, calm, and happy baby. She's on the move and a lot of fun. She loves her sister and Lilly loves her just as much. They play together and giggle the whole time. Ella loves new toys and squeals with delight when I give one to her. She also loves sitting, crawling, and seeing her sister first thing in the morning. My tiny little baby is probably almost 20 pounds. She eats crackers, fruits, veggies, cereal, oatmeal, and breast milk. She sleeps like a champ.

She's a true delight and I can't believe she's already 7 months old.

Trouble