Sweet Summer

It feels like I have nothing and everything to blog about. We are SO busy it seems with swimming at the pool, story time at the library, field trips here and there and just hanging out with our family. There was one day last week when I was driving home from my mom's house when I looked in the rear view mirror to find Taylor fast asleep, with ice cream all over her and holding a balloon. Corinne was making sweet baby noises and sucking on a phantom pacifier that had fallen out a few exits back and I thought, "Wow. This is a good day." We've had a bunch of those lately.

4th of July was a fun day of swimming and eating, then eating and swimming. Grandpa Bruce and Nana bought fireworks and Taylor got to play with the sparklers with Daddy's supervision. There's nothing like seeing your child wave a stick around with fire on the end. I couldn't watch, overprotective kill-joy that I am, but she sure had a blast. Poor Nana was pretty tired by the end of the night. Taylor treats her like a life-size Barbie doll, dragging her around from one activity to the next.


The cake Taylor and I baked


We've been spending every Tuesday morning at our local library for storytime, or "Poor Mom's Gymboree" as I so often refer to it. Taylor enjoys it and it's free, so we go. It consists of a very librarian-ish librarian reading a few stories, singing a few songs, using the felt board, playing with the big parachute and doing a cute craft at the end. Afterward, we go to the children's section and read about a million books until Grandpa bribes Taylor with ice cream so we can leave. Taylor's never met a book she didn't like but it's a habit that I hope she holds on to. I know that every mom thinks their child is a prodigy, so I won't go on about how she's the next Bobby Fisher. But I will say that the kid is pretty darn smart. Just yesterday I took the girls for a walk up the street and we passed an old beat up camper. Taylor says, "Look Mommy, it says 'dolphin'." I stopped and looked and I think my jaw must have hit the sidewalk. It DID say "dolphin," and there was absolutely NO picture of a dolphin, it just happened to be the brand name of the camper. It turns out that one of the puzzles we do everyday has a wooden piece shaped like a dolphin, and in the spot where it fits is the word "dolphin." Word recognition. Crazy. I was ridiculously proud that entire evening.


Taylor insists on wearing her princess dress EVERYWHERE!










Corinne is growing at the speed of light and has started crawling/scooting backwards!!! I remember Tay doing that shortly before she started to actually crawl. Corinne will be 6 months this week and the time has just flown by. She continues to be a happy little baby who worships Taylor and laughs at just about anything she does. She is finally sleeping 9 straight hours before waking up for a feeding (phew) and is just a cutie pie. Her favorite toy is the remote control and she loves to just sit up on her own and play with Taylor close by.








I'll be 30 in a few short weeks. I hear it's the new 20. We'll see. One thing's for sure, my wardrobe won't be coming with me into the next phase of my life. Hard to believe, but I LOVE fashion. Please try to stifle your laughter. I love fashion magazines, TV shows and anything about fashion. Not that you could tell by what I wear. I have three t-shirts. A blue v neck, a pink v neck, and a green v neck. Sometimes I get crazy and layer them with tank tops underneath. You can typically find me in ugly Mormon "mom shorts" and flip flops. And to top it all off, I have my hair pulled back into a pony tail almost everyday of the week except Sunday, when I go all out and actually take a blow dryer to it. I wear maternity clothes when I get tired of my 3 boring t shirts. I'm a walking cliche of someone who used to have taste but let herself go once she had kids. But I went through all my clothes and bagged the pieces that are basically crap and am sending them to Salvation Army. Wes asked me what I wanted for my birthday and instead of giving the obligatory response of, "Oh, I have everything I want," I said, "CLOTHES!" And not just any clothes. I want adult clothes. Meaning I don't want to go to work at the Jr. High and see an 8th grader wearing the same shirt as me. (It's happened.) So we'll see if I get my birthday wish.


VIDEO. We dance to Aerosmith in my house. No lame kiddy music here.

Father's Day and Summer Time Fun!

Father's Day was low key, which is how we preferred it. We made Wes a tie at story time at the library and got him a book on cd that he's been wanting. We attempted to make him breakfast and gave him a chance to nap and relax all day. I don't know any man who works as hard as mine. He's been on call for a month straight and working Saturdays for extra money. He comes home and dives straight into a game of hide and seek with Ms. Tay, and even does the dishes after dinner if he's not totally beat. I think about all he does for us and I'm truly thankful that he picked me. He is good through and through and he has three girls at home who just love him to pieces.

Aside from Father's Day, we've been getting into the swing of summer. We're signed up for a few fun activities at our library and have some field trips planned with friends. But what I'm most excited for is Taylor's dance class!! It starts in July and I'm really hoping she loves it as much as I did growing up. I can't wait! I'll be posting a million pictures of her when the day comes. Other than that, Taylor is loving the summer since we've been out playing with our neighbors until 10:00 at night. LOL. The grownups chat while all the kids ride bikes and play. The kids have so much fun that it's hard to convince them to come in and go to sleep. But once Tay hits the bed, she's out! It's so nice having good neighbors.

Corinne is 5 months now and we can hardly believe it. 97th % for weight and 95th% for height.lol She has so much personality and is super smiley. She can roll both ways, almost sit up on her own, and if I lay her on her belly she can get up on her knees and lift up her chest. She'll be crawling before we know it. She is just a ray of sunshine in the house and boy, o boy, does she just love Taylor. Her eyes follow Taylor wherever she goes and she squeals with excitement when Tay runs around and dances. Taylor's warmed up to her too. She hasn't hit her lately, and has even asked to hold her. We're making progress.

First Taste of Prunes. Ick.

My gorgeous girl.

video

video

This will probably/maybe be my last post before going private so email me if you haven't already and would like an invite.

Going Private

I've been thinking about setting my blog on private for a while now. I'll give it another month, so in the meantime please comment on this post with your email or email me (kanikkee@aol.com) and I'll be sure to send you an invitation if you'd like to continue to view it. For all of you non-bloggers out there the only difference will be that you have to sign in to see my posts after I set it to private. That's about it. Thanks!

Sleep Training- One Night Down

I took the advice of my friend Kim, (Supermom of Lily and Landon), and I let Corinne cry and didn't check on her until after she fell asleep. But I feel kind of guilty. I fell asleep. I heard her wake up at 11:00 pm, had every intention of listening to her cry while I lay there and beat myself up inside, only to wake up at 12:00 am to hear her sniffles. I crept in her room and she was fast asleep. I guess the trick is to be SO tired when you let them cry that you just sleep through the whole awful experience. Phew! We'll see how we do tonight.

Sleep Training- Night 1

I have not slept through the night for 6 months. Yea, yea. I know. Corinne's only 4 1/2 months old, but for about 2 months before she was born Taylor went through a phase of waking up twice a night and getting up at the butt crack of dawn. Hence, I repeat. I am totally and utterly, sleep deprived. It was the hell of me when Tay was born and it's slowly taking a toll on me now. When Taylor was about the age that Corinne is now, I took her to our pediatrician (Dr. Nathanson, who I love), I told him how tired I was and demanded that he "fix her." I was serious. I wasn't leaving until he gave me a sure fire way of getting her to sleep through the night. The answer: I just had to let her cry it out. She'd cry and we'd go in there every 10 minutes to soothe her without picking her up. "We," meaning me. Wes' job was to soothe me after I came back from soothing Taylor. It took a little over a week before her sleeping habits improved and I gradually started to feel like a human again instead of like a zombie walking around in a daze, sticking the remote control in the refrigerator and losing my keys immediately after stepping out of the car. Now we're at that point with Corinne where I just have to let her figure out how to sleep on her own. She's WAY too big for the bassinet and I no longer want to share my side of the bed with her. It's impossible to sleep soundly when I'm constantly making sure that Wes doesn't roll over on her or that I don't elbow her in the nose or something. So tonight's the night. No more excuses. She pooped, she's been fed, she's well above the average weight for a 4 month old and she has a really beautiful bedroom that she needs to start making use of......This will be brutal. I can already tell.



(Corinne's unoccupied room)

Totally unrelated....I went to Disneyland again yesterday for my Mom's birthday with my sister, Tay and Corinne. It was a blast and both girls were complete gems. Corinne has proved herself to be a great little traveler. She just goes with the flow of things. She sits in her little pack on my chest and smiles at everyone. Taylor had a great time, of course, but she really had us in stitches by the end of the day. She had seen one little girl at Disneyland dressed in an Ariel costume, from "The Little Mermaid." While standing in three different lines, this little girl was infront of us all dolled up and little Ms. Tay said, "I want an Ariel costume!" We thought she'd drop it and forget about it by the end of the day, but no dice. So Nana splurged on an Ariel costume and it was the absolute best part of the day. Taylor put it on outside of the store and was immediately in character. She even drove home in it with her orange hair and all. She kept on saying, "I'm the Little Mermaid." This morning when she woke up, it was the first thing she asked for and she insisted I call her Ariel and not Taylor. I was supposidly Scuttle the seagull. She just kept looking in the mirror with this silly grin on her face. She even asked me, "Do you want to take a picture with Ariel," and handed me the camera. Too funny. I just love her to bits.

(If you lose a sock, gloves are the next best thing)

The next day..

Wish me luck on the sleep training. Any and all advice is acceptable.

Something to Blog About

It seemed like after Easter that I had absolutely nothing to blog about. I even drove past a cop one day, hoping he would pull me over, just so I could rant and rave on this site about it later. But now that we've had a few special occasions in the Pollard Family, I'm back in the saddle again.

Mother's Day was extra special this year. Not only because I now have TWO beautiful little ladies that I love, but because Wes surprised me with tickets to Disneyland so we could take Tay for the very first time. I've been excited about this day for 2 1/2 years, and it didn't disappoint. We went the Friday before Mother's Day and it was a beautiful day. The park was less crowded than usual. The longest we had to wait in line was 20 minutes and Tay's face was just priceless the whole day. My little girl who normally never stops gabbing, was stunned into silence with a look of utter shock on her face that never wore off. We started off with the Buzz Lightyear ride. I was terrified that she'd hate it and scream her head off, and there'd go our trip. Not likely. The ride ended and she just looked at us with wide eyes and said, "I want to go again!" And from there we took Disneyland by storm. The kiddy rides anyway, including Pirates, Jungle Cruise, and Haunted Mansion. She loved every minute. She even got to meet Alice, the Mad Hatter, Mickey and Goofy. Again. Utter shock and awe. Stunned silent until we walked away and then she'd brake out with the, "I want to do it again!!!" It was so fun to just watch her take it all in. She has the same exact expression in every picture. And at 8 o'clock exactly she pulled the hood of the stroller over her, snuggled up with her stuffed animal Minnie Mouse, and conked out until the next morning at 6 a.m. when she woke us up with, "I want to go back to Disneyland!" It was a special day that I'll always remember. She's really been needing some alone time with Mommy and Daddy and there was no better way than a day at the happiest place on earth.

Other than that, Corinne is just growing and growing. She's 4 months yesterday, and she's in 9 month clothes. HA! She's just my little chunkers. She lights up the whole house with her smiles and belly laughs. I can't picture a happier baby. She's a little cranky when we travel around town, but at home she's as happy as can be and just never seems to stop smiling. I call her my little puppy dog. If she had a tail, it would wag. When I walk in the room she does her little baby squeal that just melts my heart. She can roll both ways now and actually enjoys her tummy time.

Tay is still warming up to her. Some days she likes her and some days she hates her. Last week I was taking a shower while both girls we're in my room. Out of nowhere my heart stops and I bolt out of the shower to check on Corinne for no apparent reason other than my own crazy, motherly instincts. I found Tay on the bed with an impish grin, and Corinne in her bassinet with a huge blanket over her, struggling to get free. Needless to say, I don't put her to bed with blankets so there's only one way it got there. Tay wasn't all too happy after I was finished giving her the wrath of Mommy. But this morning Tay woke up, looked at Corinne and said, "Oh! Good morning sister!" I'm not fooled. I love the kid, but I don't trust her for a minute. Poor Corinne depends on me to be on my guard. LOL....Corinne is still not sleeping through the night, which doesn't surprise me. After all, Tay didn't until she was 9 months so why should Corinne be any different. But what I absolutely loathe are the women who also have babies and brag about how their 3 week old already sleeps 15 hours. All I have to say to that is, "Bite me!" Really? Can't they see the bags under my eyes? Do they really have to rub it in? Sigh.

It occurred to me that I rarely mention Wes in these blogs. Can I just say that I love this man. I couldn't ask for a better husband. He's such a great Daddy on top of it, and he knows how to treat us girls. I never have to worry about him forgetting holidays or birthdays. He makes them all so special, and Mother's Day this year was no exception. Don't know how I got so lucky.

Dumbo was Tay's favorite ride.

Buzz Lightyear, a close second.

Like meeting a rock star.

Jungle Cruise


Daddy hates crowds.

The look that she had ALL day long.

Balance

Taylor was standing on the bed and fell off yesterday. She smacked her head against the night stand. Instantly there was a huge black and blue knot that was raised about an inch off her head. Wes and I both freaked out, but the next morning the knot was gone and only a small blue bruise remained. She learned an important lesson that I hope she won't forget. If we play around on the bed and are doing too many things at once, we can get hurt. Ahhhh Grasshopper. There are lessons to be learned everywhere. Strangely enough, I have been giving a lot of thought about balance lately. I've figured out that the weeks when I'm feeling really down and out have a lot to do with balance, or lack there of. If I put all my focus on the kids, then I'm left feeling like I've neglected the things that make me, Me. So I'm working on finding a balance. This week I went to the gym one day and ran, took a yoga class, and played basketball at church this morning. I came home a much happier mom having given myself a little time out. I remember hearing that women can have it all, do it all, be it all, blah, blah, blah. Then I had a women's history professor set the record straight. She said we CAN have it all. Just not all at the same time. I try to remember that when I'm feeling like one aspect of my life (like education) is being ignored, while other parts are being nurtured (like my family.) Again, balance Daniel Son. This grasshopper has a lot to learn.

Corinne at 3 months. Belly laughing. She can even roll from front to back.Tay's Super Hero cape that I sewed with pictures of everything she likes for Logan's birthday party.She's a stinker, but she's gorgeous. My favorite quote of the week is, "Hello Joseph. This is my friend, Mommy." I love that she introduces me to other people as "her friend, Mommy." Cracks me up.