Christmas

Hope everyone had a great Christmas. We did. The kids were excited and fun, as expected. Christmas eve was also fun. My mother, a friend of John's (named John) and the Varney family all came over to celebrate. We didn't go overboard though so Christmas morning didn't come too early. The kids woke up at 7am but John & I were up at 6am sort of waiting for them to wake up. I think we were more excited than they were.
There were a lot of presents even though there were a lot less than in years past. Next year remind me not to buy too many stocking stuffers, they got tossed aside pretty quickly. Also, next year remind me to have Christmas dinner at 3pm not 1pm. It made for a looonnnngggg day. Finally, remind me to give Brooke a nap (well, next year I suppose it will only be Lexi napping). She didn't nap AND had stayed up until 10pm the night before so she crashed hard at the end of Christmas. Otherwise everyone had a good time. Nina & Poppy stayed for the duration! Papa John came on Saturday and was able to get some time with the girls on his own. He gave Brooke a digital camera which has been a HUGE hit.
John & I took yesterday off and lazed around, went out to lunch and just regrouped from all the fun. What a great idea that was - I highly recommend it. Tomorrow I'm taking off by myself to lie in bed all day because I can! Today I'm at work but that's not too bad because it's quiet and I can get things done.
Pictures as soon as I can!

Merry Christmas everyone!

I am trying to wrack my brain for posts about the kids - strictly but they haven't really done anything insane lately so there is not much material there. They are being awfully good due to the threat of Santa's list but I fear that may back fire in January. Cupid can be a mite mean, can't he? I think in the Vallier house he'll have to have a basket or something. A basket of note Mom's and Dad's send to him when the kids are good and bad. Then right before Valentine's (I know I'm reaching here) he counts them up and if the goods out weight the bads.... well you get it. That's kind of a tough sell even to a 3 year old. Now the Easter bunny we can work with.
Last weekend my father and Karen came and brought the kids their gifts. Barbie pool. Kids love it - floors are really clean lately! Barbie car, I want that car, bigger of course but I want it. Barbie herself, of course, and the Little People farm. I also love those Little People. They are like the new weebles.
Anywho, I am venturing to say that Brooke is going to bed without much cajoling. There is still a couple trips back for hugs and kisses and one trip to the top of the stairs to make sure we'll check on her but overall the whole thing takes about 5 minutes vs. 3 hours.
This week we have a LOT coming up. Christmas party on Friday night, Papa John on Saturday, Sunday is Christmas eve which means Santa, I mean Yia Yia, comes over. Then the big event!! All the hullabaloo for the initial reaction to the tree and stockings and stuff. I'm as excited as they are I think.
Have some eggnog for me and enjoy your people this holiday season!!

Nevermind.

I had some unexpected support from family members over the weekend so the blog is back on!! I am going to try to keep it to kid stuff though from now on (which is what you all want to read about anyway)!
An update on Brooke - she is fine and shows no signs of trauma after "Dark Monday" as I'm mentally referring to it (though technically it was Tuesday). Alexis' nose is still running. She did throw up again on Wed. night but Supermom was out cold after taking Nyquil and didn't even know it until the next morning when I noticed "a little something" on her pjs. Gross I know. Reality.
Moving on, this weekend was crazy as usual. Clark (John) Griswald has decorated the house to rival Fenway Park. We've got white lights, we've got purple lights, we've got green, red and blue lights. We have an inflatable santa, a white lite reindeer, a multi-colored christmas tree flag pole, wreaths, candy canes, you get the idea. It's AWESOME. I'll get pictures soon. The kids love it.
We went to my aunt's Christmas party this weekend. Talk about decorating! She out did herself. She and her boyfriend, Bill, live in Marblehead right in the neighborhood where I grew up. It was a treat to go back. It was a fantastic party with really great people and tons of food. Santa Claus even came (John Zanco) and gave the girls presents and checked them off his list (which was really impressive - names of kids and their Christmas wishes all written out). Brooke was especially overwhelmed with seeing Santa and of course we got it all on tape! Everyone was super good with the kids (who were angels honestly) and it was one of those parties you hated to leave. We stayed until 10:00 though so we were really troupers!!
At Yia Yia's the kids flipped again at her decorations - moving ornaments, tiny critters just for them, blow up beds, special movies and Brooke got to sleep over in Yia Yia's bed. We all stayed over and Mom made me "monkey balls" for breakfast, and coffee, and let me use her make up. I was in heaven.
We got home (with our goody bag from Yia Yia of course) and the day flew by in a flurry of arts and crafts, swinging and napping. Great weekend all around!

Last entry

I am signing off in blogger land. It's become more of a chore then a joy. For those who have enjoyed it thanks for reading!! Keep in touch by e-mail.
Lisa

ER - Concussion

So it's been a harrowing 36 hours. Let's start at the beginning shall we?
Alexis - Monday night(by night I mean wicked early Tues. morning like 2am), up coughing, then vomiting. Somewhere in there I heard a huge thump. As I was just getting up from Lexi's bed to get her out of the crib (coughing again) I figured I had knocked something off the bed.
Nope.
"Waahhhh! Mommy, Mommy!!" and thump, thump, thump of Brooke footsteps.
"What, what" I asked
"I fell out of my bed."
I picked her up and soothed and checked her head. She was OK and coherent. She lied back down and went to sleep.
Back to Lexi - I took her in to our room where she puked all over me. We took a shower (3am). I tried to get her back to bed but the minute she laid down she'd cough until she threw up.
I finally gave up and brought her down to the couch to watch a show - thinking at least she'll be upright for awhile. This seemed to be working aside from the exhaustion (mine).
Now (3:30am) I hear Brooke get up - oh sh*t I think, she heard the tv and wants in on this. NO way. John intercepts her and I can't really hear whats going on over Dora repeating "Vamanos" three hundred times.
All is quiet (except Dora, she truly never shuts up). Then. Thump, thump, thump. Now Brooke is throwing up. John sounds like he's doing a good job of being calm but I know the inner John is freaking out so I go to see what's going on. She is pale, throwing up, fell on head - calling the Dr.
100 questions - off to the Emergency room.
John stays with Lexi who goes right back to sleep for him after we leave, the little stinker.
Brooke throws up 3 more times in the car and she tries valiantly not to make a mess but it doesn't work.
We wait for 1 hour, get a CT scan, wait another hour, move to a room, get a brief Dr. visit, wait again, finally get the dr. back saying the CT scan was normal and she'll continue to toss her cookies for the rest of the day and to slowing increase her food intake. Of course, Brooke is dehydrated and starving so this doesn't go well but we did it and now it's the next day.
So what was your day like?

Thanksgiving

Warning: the picture is not indicative of the kids behavior on Thanksgiving. They were angels.

Holiday traditions are important to me. I didn't realize that until the traditions I had, started to change. I want my kids to have those traditions to cherish but we've yet to really get a definite routine for the holidays.
This year we spent our Thanksgiving at my in-laws (Anne & John) in Quincy. It was wonderful. It was just the 6 of us but it was perfect. The kids really had some time to bond with their grandparents. Anne had dinner at noon so the kids wouldn't be too squirmy. After dinner they watched a video and the adults chatted. We had dessert and then everyone (except Brooke and Anne) took a nap. It was very relaxed and fun. Just what you want a holiday to be.
I'd love this to be a holiday tradition because I really enjoy my in-laws and look forward to our time together. There is always something going on, some political debate, some family fracas, some hot issue to discuss with them. John & I have been trying to talk them into moving to Marshfield and they are starting to think about it. It would be great to be able to spontaneously have dinner without worrying about the driving, etc.
When we lived in Marblehead I loved having my grandmother close by. I remember walking from high school to her house all the time just to chat and have a snack. It was cool knowing you had a little home away from home that you could just go to to hang out. It's always easier talking to your grandmother than your mother, I don't know why but I know my kids will feel the same way.














In other news - Brooke is able to write all of the letters of the alphabet. Out of the blue! One day she came home and could do it! Amazing!

Thanksgiving

I was going to write this long list of things I'm thankful for and I got almost all the way through it but it started to deteriorate into making sure everyone got included and that became boring so I'll spare you. I love my kids, my family, my house and all but the one thing I'm most thankful for is my husband.
He puts up with my ups and downs, my highs and lows, my laughing and crying, my illness and lunacy. He's given up on trying to "fix" some of my things that are unfixable. He's fixed a few of the things we all thought were unfixable. He gave me two baby girls whom I adore, he helped me establish a life many can only dream of. He's fun and cute, tall and handsome, silly and serious and most of all, constantly trying, be it with me, the kids or work.
This year most of all I'm thankful for John.

Derek is a parent

My brother, Derek, and his wife, Mariah, are proud parents! Of puppy #1 - Jasper.

I have to admit the dog is awfully cute.

They are getting another golden puppy sometime soon. Here's hoping they are well behaved little fur balls!

Timshel!

I have "discovered" John Steinbeck.
I absolutely love his work. I can NOT get enough of it. I recently finished East of Eden and wanted to cry when I was done because it was so good I wished it would go on forever (and it's long in reality).
I've read, in the past couple of months, Cannery row, Sweet Thursday and Winter of our discontent. ST is a sequel to CR. CR is a classic and a fun read. It's quaint and comical but it has an underlying theme which runs throughout Steinbecks novels; right vs. wrong and good vs. evil. He takes this theme and creates these unbelievable characters that you feel you know from the first sentence.
East of Eden is described as his epic novel. It took him 11 years to write it and spans 3 generations, 2 wars and the entire country. It was later made into a movie with James Dean (in fact the only Dean movie that had been released when he died). I read that the movie only covers about a third of the novel. I am going to say that this is my favorite book ever. And I read A LOT.
Winter of our discontent is about family life in a small town. It's about how life takes turns that you don't expect, how you handle those turns and what happens if you take the high road versus the low road. Also a great read.
There are a few more of his books that I haven't read. Of Mice and Men and Grapes of Wrath I've read but a long time ago and I don't remember them so I'm going to pick them up again.
I hope this has inspired one of you to try one of these books - I think you'll thank me!

Cute things

The kids and I had a good weekend overall. John was still recovering from his bout with death (read: a cold) but was a trooper and went grocery shopping and stuff. We went to a kids fair and were able to do some Christmas shopping and some animal petting all at the same time. What a deal?
We watched movies and played with puzzles and read books. We didn't watch too much tv so I was happy. I didn't feel like I wanted to poke myself in the eye in order to get out of playing at any point so that was good.
The rain didn't really bother us. We went outside when there was a break in the weather. The kids napped their little butts off. 3 hours each day (could explain the lack of a need to poke my eye out).
My mother came on Sunday and swooped us all off to lunch and a toy store. Each child got to pick out two toys (negotiated from one by Brooke). Of course, Brooke's #1 toy had a part B but who's counting?
Last night when we were taking the bath Lexi had an "accident". I had to quickly get the kids out and in to the shower, remove all the tub toys, rinse the tub, clean up the kids and get them in their pjs all while trying not to retch. Brooke got her pjs on herself and I told her to get started brushing teeth while I dressed Lexi. As I said this I knew it wouldn't work because usually I do the toothpaste for her because in the past it's been a toothpaste waterfall if she gets to do it. I just decided to give it a shot because at this point I was a little stressed (with the poop and all). Once Lexi was dressed, and sternly warned about poop in the tub, I brought her in the bathroom and Brooke had not only put the paste on her toothbrush but had gotten Lexi's ready too AND moved her stool up for her.
This was huge.
I'm telling you I almost burst out in tears. Just the fact that I didn't have to do those two things made my night. Brooke could have asked me for a pony and gotten it. Thank god she didn't. She just wanted to go downstairs and watch Go Diego Go with Daddy.
Coming soon: Lexi's potty training

The week from hell

This has been a ridiculous week. Let's start with the the stress over moving my father's stuff - we had planned to help them but when we discovered that it was $500 for the truck we decided we didn't want the furniture (couch and two club chairs) that bad. I told his wife this and she wasn't too happy. Anyway, it's all been worked out now but that was stressful.
In the midst of this I was in the closet changing and thought I should check out the "rear view" since I hadn't in a while and I like to keep an eye on the ever increasing sag that is known as my butt. Sadistic, yes, but once in awhile it surprises me and the light is in the right place or something and it looks pretty good back there, anyway, I digress.
I'm looking in the mirror and think, What the hell did I do? I had a big black spot on my back. I figured I had a cut or, heaven forbid a really gross pimple of some kind. I contorted to touch it and lo and behold - it moved. AAARRRGGGHHH. Running, screaming (inside so as not to wake the kids), half naked down to the basement where John is sleeping away. Now really screaming "What is that? What is that?"
"Huh, what? snort Wha?"
"That on my back - what is it?"
He pulls it off, "It's a tick."
"Oh fantastic."
So, being that he is the bug guy, he had his local entemologist check it out and it is, in fact, a deer tick. They can give you lyme disease which can present as arthritis symptoms. Ironic really. So who knows. I have to wait a few weeks to find out if I get flu like symptoms.
Soooooo, life goes on. I'm itchy and can't sleep all night worrying about ticks and moving and relatives who hate me. I get up at 3:30am and watch a show then get ready for work (no tics!). I'm driving serenely down the road at 5:15am (in the dark) and "AAARRRRRGHHHHHHHHHHH!"
A f*ing deer in the middle of the road. Just standing there. Then runs away. Goddamn deer.
I clinched up so hard I actually hurt my ankle. I sat there breathing for a minute and then went to work. Unbelieveable.
Then yesterday Brooke was too sick to go to school so we stayed home together which was actually pretty fun. John picked Lexi up from school and someone had ralphed so we're watching her for symptoms but she's hardy now that she's all tubed up.
So that's my week. It's Thursday by the way, I'm sure there is much more fun ahead. When daylight saving time happens does cocktail hour move back too? 4pm anyone?
p.s. If you haven't seen the Halloween skunks check it out here:
http://vallier.shutterfly.com/action/

Bad blogger

I am a bad blogger lately. I am posting this with nothing particular to talk about but feeling like I should put something out there so that people don't forget about my blog.
Some kid updates - Alexis is talking more and more each day. "Sure" is her yes - I don't know why. I don't think we say "sure" that much but someone does because she says it all the time.
We have a great new tradition after dinner (and the skunk stories - if you don't know, you haven't eaten with us in a while), the "rraahhh!!" game. It involves both kids standing by the cabinets at the far end of the kitchen then one of them running to Daddy and yelling "Raahhhh!", at which point he acts scared (this can be interchanged with Dad yelling "raahh", etc.). After the yelling they run back to the cabinet (sort of like tag) and the next one runs to Dad for more yelling. It sounds horrible but it actually really cute. It's sort of a lead up to Halloween game (I think). Speaking of that, all of the holidays sure because more "hyped" when you have kids. We've already started dragging poor ol' Santa into our Brooke dealings. She did something the other day (like jumping on the table or something) and I told her to knock it off. She said "Are you going to tell Santa?" Hey, if it works, it works!

Christmas Info for the kids

Chistmas Wish List
Not to be presumptuous but people often ask around this time of year what the kids sizes are so here it is:

Brooke:
Shirts - 4T
Pants - 4T
Shoes - 10

Alexis:
Shirts - 3T
Pants - 3T
Shoes - 8 or 8.5

I am a big fan of plain shirts and pants (strips, dots, etc are fine). Not too sparkley, not too cutesy, NO commercial characters. Just my preference but we'll accept anything with many thanks! Brooke will now wear jeans and corduroys (last year not so much). Alexis is not picky about anything (yet).

They like matching but it's certainly not required. In fact it's easier for me if they aren't matching because their sizes are so close together laundry comes a bit of a pain. But I can handle it for the cute factor.

Other ideas:

• Alexis does NOT like hats. People want babies/toddlers to wear hats but they are a waste for her.
• Alexis LIKES hair clips, barrettes, head bands, where Brooke doesn't.
• Alexis is very interested in taking things apart
• Alexis loves books with a main character she can identify (not just random pages with numbers or whatever).
• Brooke is into the longer books like easy readers (I still read them but she can follow the stories).
• We can always use bath toys because they get yucky pretty easy. Fun things are bath foam, bath paints and any kind of motorized toys for the tub.
• We do not need stuffed animals or dolls.
• They don't need snow pants, jackets or hats. They could use some weather proof gloves and/or mittens.
• We are always in need of arts and crafts supplies - the more interesting the better. Paints (washable please), foam stickers, felt, construction paper, large white or colored paper. Colored glue, sparkles, stamps & stamp pads. Floam. A&C aprons for both of them would be HUGE help.
• Coloring books and activity books (i.e. differences in pictures, mazes, matching, etc.)
• Jigsaw puzzles (not the "on a piece of wood" ones but the real 30 or 50 piece type) of kids characters (for Brooke).
• Both could use slippers.
• Games for the tv are not too popular yet so we can skip that.
• Brooke loves having a disposable camera.
• Board games are just making an appearance. We have candyland, chutes & ladders and Cooties. Any others that are for 3+ are fine.
• We have loads of blocks and legos BUT we don't have (god help me I can't believe I am going to say this) small Legos. Alexis really loves Legos and I think she could handle these now.
• She also loves the Little People. She has the house and the car and the roller coaster.
• Brooke loves Barbies and could use clothes and SHOES. Those shoes get lost all the time - if you could find a set of 100 pairs of shoes she'd love it. She has the town house and an SUV. Otherwise the Barbie world is wide open.
• Finally, Alexis could use a bean bag chair and Brooke could use one of those kiddie chairs (Wow, I went looking for an example and found this pic, is it perfect or what? Yia Yia? You seeing this? Toysrus.com).
  I would like a huge wall mounted shelving system to install in the playroom so that we can store all this stuff. Daddy may be giving Mommy this but doesn't realize it yet.
  One last note - if you are against kids getting a lot of "stuff" for Christmas we have college funds set up for each of the kids to which contributions can be made! Just give us a jingle and we'll give you the info.
  John & I would like a week in Jamaica. Any takers?

Independence Day

Brooke is moving in to independence. This morning she zipped her jacket up all by herself. This is no small feat folks, as you would know if you ever tried to zip one of those tiny kids zippers.
Other new developments are independent swinging (though she tries to say she can't do it most of the time so I push her), refrigerator retrieval (getting and returning items to the fridge), napping without a pull-up, dressing herself (trying to take a deep breath on sideways underwear and striped pants with polka dot shirts), making her own lunch for school, including assembling the sandwich, cutting it and pulling all the other "parts" from the fridge.
This last one one won't shock too many people - she can also run faster than her mother (who is about as slow as they come). We "raced" yesterday and she beat me fair and square about 10 times. The one time I won I cheated so that probably doesn't count.
Alexis, it appears, is going to be the one who let's me do her hair. She wants a clip and pony anytime I reach for the brush. LOVE IT! Brooke runs screaming and cries when I try to brush her hair. Go figure.

The perfect photo!

Once in awhile you get a really good picture. Well, here it is! Download away!

37

Last week I turned 37. I celebrated 4 times "officially" and about about 10 "unofficially". This is one of those times when it pays to have an extended family. The first get together was with my friend Kate and her finance (this is a recent development and we are sooooo excited for them!!!) Barbara. We share the same birthday so we went out as a group to celebrate. It was a great time but the next day, let's just say - not so great. Anyway, party #2 was that Sat. with John's parents. They came by for dinner and sang HB to me. Big fun! Party #3, my mother & John Z - brought me all my favorite food, chicken & rice a la Sha, mocha cake, presents galore! Party #4 my father and Karen came and brought me a fantastic cake (purple!) and filet mignon. Big fun, and I'm really glad they came. He is retiring this week (basically) and moving to Florida for the winter so it's possible we won't see them regularly for, well, ever.
That's a lot of birthday. I'm glad it's over because I truly don't like to make a big deal of my birthday but there are a lot of people who I like to see and who are good to me and want to visit so, *sigh*, I guess I'll just have to put up with it ;-)
Today I am picking up Derek at the airport because he's going to the Vineyard for a wedding. He's such a "beautiful person". This is actually his friend, Matt, who was his best man. Hopefully it's not a huge cluster pluck getting there. He & I are so calm when things go wrong you know.
Anyway, it will be nice to see him and I'm dragging him to daycare to pick up the kids (he doesn't know this). It'll be cute!
On the kid front - Brooke had been worse than ever (note past tense) and it came to a head on Sunday at naptime. She was exhausted, she wouldn't go down for her nap and I had just about had it. I yelled down to John that we needed to get a lock for her door today. As predicted she heard me and freaked out but finally went to sleep. Well, the other person that heard was John's father (as he was in the basement with John at the time). This diabolical plot by me made it's way back to Quincy and my mother-in-law, Anne. Monday John popped by their house to say hi and Anne mentioned that she knew someone that locked their kid in her room and now she's in jail. Now I realized you can't prove causation here but still - it's an interesting story.
Let me say this - I have been against the lock on the door idea from it's inception because I know that as a child I would have freaked out. I truly appreciate the fact that my mother and my mother-in-law feel comfortable weighing in on things like this. You should be able to learn from people who've been through it and I am able to take all the advice and sift through it and make a more educated guess. No lock. It's off the table. Now if she ends up in jail it's not my fault.

Two little ducklings

The normal conversation when I pick the kids up from school goes like this:
"Hey guys, how was school?"
"Good, Mommy, we painted and went on the slide and Bobby sat in the corner," Brooke will say. Once she finishes I will try to include Lexi who is just sitting there eating something or staring around.
Yesterday as we are getting in to the car and I asked Lexi first, "Lexi how was your day?"
"Good," she said and started smiling ear to ear. No kidding.
Brooke & I burst out laughing and cheering. It was so cute and she was so proud of herself she smiled all the way home.
These are the moments!

Fair Part II

And this - I finally got my hair cut like an adult. I LOVE it. Granted this photo is the day of the cut so it won't be "flipped" like this again anytime soon but it still looks good without a lot of work. Should have done it sooner! I was in traffic so I took this photo myself while driving without trying to look like a goofball to passersby, hence the serious face.

Just in case..

..you are ever asked, "Would you like a 3 year old?" Say NO. "18 mo. old?" Sure, bring 'em on, but a 3 year old? Run like the wind my friend.
Anywho....we have photos from the Marshfield fair. BIG fun. Thankfully we had 3 adults to 2 kids because that way the adults could rotate which horrific ride to go on with Brooke who is a ride-aholic!

Continued

Wedding Part III

My mother just got some of her pics up from the wedding here they are:

Water jet play in Boulder:














Goofing around with Poppa John in Vail Village














Needing a little jolt after the wedding














Rehearsal dinner photos
















Hair and makeup fun















Gondola ride

Wedding - Part II

Here are some more photos from the wedding:
Tom, Kelly, Ryan, Kyle and Aaron Hicks/Philip, Carol and Bryan Norton















These are of our trip to Denver/Boulder. We were hiking in the Rockies with the kids. V. short hike but photo worthy.















This is me and the girls in the lobby of the hotel (did I post this already?). Again, go to the Vallier photo gallery for all the photos of the trip.

Wedding photos are here!

Here are the photos of the fabulous wedding - visit our website for the entire spectrum of photos. I've downloaded just a few favs here.
The wedding itself was great - I've never seen so many people cry during the vows. There were many speeches (one by Yia Yia) at the wedding and more crying.
Most importantly I think Mariah and Derek were happy with the wedding and all the surrounding activities.
The rehearsal dinner on Thursday was a blast (as was the Tap room after....). Our sitter worked out great (if you find yourself in Vail called Care 4 Kids for a sitter). My generous father and his wife Karen footed the bill for the sitter for both nights so thank you very much!!
If you ever doubt that it truly takes a village here is my list of thanks for making our trip a successful one:
Yia Yia puchased our airline tickets and helped enormously during the entire trip (unfortunatley it's impossible to list all the ways but they are many)
Pappa John was our "on call" sitter for many an extemporaneous hour or three
Kelly (Hicks) was Alexis' care taker during the ceremony so John could wrestle with Brooke
The Valliers brought us to and from the airport and donated to our vacation fund.
Biggest kudos go to John V who had the kids during my spa trip (with help from Pappa John) and who had them almost all day on the wedding day. That doesn't sound so hard right? The wedding day included napping them, dressing them (tights, dresses, hair), getting them in to the car, up to the gondola, on the gondola, to the wedding site, back from the wedding site (all in the rain), on to an SUV, to the ceremony, at the ceremony (again thanks to Kelly for helping with this part) and then reverse all that back to the hotel to meet the sitter AND THEN reverse all that again back to the reception!!! Whoooo Hooooo. Good job Johnny!
It was a great time but I'm tired just thinking about it. Here are some photos of the wedding & reception:


Wedding Party/Derek & Mariah















Browns/Sharon and John















Lisa & Karen/Karen & Dad















John& Lisa/ Sharon & Lisa














(continued)

All in a day's work

In my on-going effort to keep the kids from injuring themselves before the wedding here is what yesterday went like:

We were outside on the swing set playing nicely, when my neighbor walked by and asked about Lexi's ears. This was GREAT because this neighbor has been giving me the cold shoulder since I "spoke" to her about her dog so I really wanted to encourage this conversation.
We were chatting while I pushed Brooke on the swing and kept an eye on Lexi who was climbing the slide ladder - until - "WAAAHHH!" from behind me and Ann (the neighbor) goes, "oh!" I turned around and Lexi had fallen backwards off the ladder and was lying there crying. She has climbed the ladder about 100 times and has slipped but has always held on. Not this time. She was fine - no bruising about the face. Still presentable!
Later that evening - bath time. Everyone is playing nicely but Brooke is continuously touching Lexi which is annoying her (and me). I ask repeatedly (10 times) for her to stop it. Still does it. I tell her that if she does it again she's getting out. She sticks her foot over to Lex and touches her with her big toe. Now I realize she is just being 3 but sometimes you have to stick to your guns and I chose this opportunity to prove that Mommy follows up.
"That's it. Get out."
"NOOOOOO!", she screams and slides as far away as possible in the tub.
"Don't say no young lady," I say and get in the tub and pull her toward me and then get her out myself.
"My hand, my hand.....", she starts wailing.
Oh shit, I think (didn't say it, thankfully).
"Brooke stop screaming, brush your teeth." Didn't work, still screaming.
OK, long story short - off we go to Quincy Pediatrics (in Quincy!) and the doctor pronates her arm so that the elbow goes back into alignment.
"Happens twice a day here," he says, trying to make me feel better.
Ok. Second accident averted, no outward bruises. Still wedding ready!
While this is all going on - I noticed that Brooke's room smelled funny (as John was running around yelling at me and trying to get ice for Brooke's arm).
I looked at the Barbie bed and two perfect little poops. Lexi was diaperless for about 2 minutes and had pooped in Brooke's room. I cleaned it up and we went to the doctors office.
Later, when I called John to report that her arm was OK and we were on our way home, I mentioned the poop (because we could laugh now that we could breathe).
"Oh, that's what she was playing with." he said matter of factly.
"What?"
"She was playing with something and smelling it and I thought it was gum or something."
This is all in addition to the 45 minutes I waited at the OTHER doctor's office for Lexi's ear checkup. The checkup took literally 2 minutes but it was good so that was somewhat worth it.
All in a day's work.

This is Brooke and her best friend Victoria.
Will you look at that attitude? They are 3 years old!

This morning I went to put a fresh diaper on Lexi when she woke up (I got a ride to work with John today). When I laid her down on the changing table she looked and me and said, clear as a bell, "I love Mommy." How's that for a good start to your day?

Pictures Part III

Here are some photos of John's sister (Jane) and her kids. Some how Binno (her husband) escaped the photos but he was there. They will be sorely missed when they head back across the ocean we've had a great time visiting with them!
Ava did a great job reading to the kids and so did Mark (again the photo didn't come out). The last pic is Ava, Nana (John's mom) and me. Poppy was also at the BBQ but didn't get in any pics that came out - next time Poppy!