Maggie's first post

Maggie wants to contribute to the blog today. Here she goes:

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Playground

This morning I walked the girls to a new indoor playground a couple blocks from here. I pushed Audrey in the stroller and Maggie walked alongside; this is what we usually do on our outings and it's been working well. Luckily Maggie is not a runner and is really good about staying with me and holding my hand when necessary.

The playground was fun, but $7 for an hour of playtime means we probably won't do it often. Maggie wanted to stay longer, but Audrey was falling apart and needed her nap. When we were leaving, I kept saying "We have to go" and Maggie was crying and saying "No thank you, no thank you." She has the best manners, saying please and thank you constantly, even when it doesn't exactly make sense.

The scary slide: She went down it so fast that she flew into the air and bumped the back of her head on the slide when she came back down. I was horrified.

Cute Audrey:

Maggie's favorite, the "bouncy castle" (that's what they call a bounce house in a Maisy book):

Bounce! Bounce!

Audrey lay there like a slug. It was her only defense.

Conversations

Maybe it's just because I'm related to her, but I think some of the conversations I have with Maggie are brilliant, or at the least, amusing.

Sometimes she tries to trick me into producing something she wants to see. It goes like this:

Maggie: Christmas lights! Mommy, Christmas lights, over dere! Mommy! Christmas! Lights!
(until I finally give in and respond...)
Me: Do you see Christmas lights?
Maggie: Where? Where, Mommy? Where Christmas lights? Where?
(looking around wildly)
(until I have to explain that they're all gone until next year, and then she acts sad)

And last night we had another conversation about the moon:

Maggie: Where moon, Mommy?
Me: I can't see it. I don't know where it is.
Maggie: It blew away.
Me: It blew away?
Maggie: The sun blew moon away.
Me: Where did it go?
Maggie: Behind us.
Me: What's it doing behind us?
Maggie: Looking for food.

Audrey is 7 months old

Bathing beauties

Maggie & Peter

The girls and I went to visit my friend Sarah, her son Peter and their new baby Lucas yesterday. Ever since Sarah moved to Laguna Beach we don't get to see them as much as we'd like, but we try to get together once in a while.

Peter was Maggie's very first friend--they are only 6 weeks apart. Here they are as newborns:


And here they are now:

Maggie makes cupcakes

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Making beautiful music

The girls and I started a Music Together class today. I did this class with Maggie last spring when I was hugely pregnant (towards the end of the series, every time I showed up the other moms cooed in sympathy for me--I even went to class two days before I delivered Audrey). She liked it then, but she loooves it now! She was great--she clapped, sang, danced and got right into the middle of the circle to strut her stuff. Audrey will also enjoy the classes I'm sure, but today it was at naptime so she was grumpy. We're switching to an earlier class time to suit her schedule better.

Pigtails (again)

Trying again. Slightly lower. Still not sure if I like them. Neither is Maggie.

Pigtails

Cute or ridiculous? I'm not sure if this is a good look for Maggie or not.

Join Team Jake!

Our good friend Jake, age 7, is preparing to run a 5K and raise enough money to support a child for one year through Worldvision. Please check out Jake's blog (and his awesome running photos!) and consider sponsoring him.

Death of a tea party

Maggie sets up a miniature tea party for some of her friends, keeping a watchful eye on the potentially destructive Audrey:

The tea party in full swing:
Here comes Audreyzilla:

Her work here is done:

Almost crawling?

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Who needs to buy toys...

...when you can play with them for free at the toystore?




Truth be told, I did buy two puzzles for Maggie and a chew toy for Audrey. But we spent an hour in Toys R Us playing and saying hello to all the dollies, and walked out only $14 poorer.

Snow!

The girls had their first experience with snow today, albeit a brief one. We took a drive into the Angeles National Forest behind our house, and it took less than an hour to reach 6000 feet and snow on the ground. The snow was pretty but icy and hard to walk on. Maggie walked around a few minutes and admired the snow, poked at some pinecones, and then was ready to leave. Audrey stayed in the car where it was warm. We ate lunch at the Newman's Ranch Restaurant right up there in the mountains, and drove home with both girls napping.

The view from the mountains toward downtown L.A.:

Maggie meets the snow:

Brr, it was only 28 degrees out:

Maggie found a pinecone:
The girls had fun at the restaurant, and Audrey sat in a restaurant highchair for the first time:

Strolling, double or otherwise

We journeyed to Babies R Us today to testdrive some new strollers. Audrey is quickly growing out of her infant seat so we are on the verge of purchasing a Britax Roundabout carseat for her, and need a new stroller as well.

We looked at the Joovy Stand-On Tandem Stroller, which has a small seat in the back where the older child can sit and a platform where they can stand. Maggie liked the little seat, but I decided against this stroller because it's large (smaller than a true tandem like the Duoglider, but still much bigger than a standard stroller--and much bigger than it looks in this photo), it doesn't have enough storage space for my backpack, and it wouldn't be comfortable for Maggie for more than a few minutes at a time.


My favorite double stroller is the Peg Perego Aria Twin. Both girls were comfortable in it; the basket is huge and easily holds my backpack with room to spare; it's very easy to push; and I can look down and see both girls easily. Of course it IS wide, which I'm sure is a pain getting through doorways and store aisles. But it would be so nice for things like the zoo or on a sidewalk.



If I don't get the double, I plan to buy a new single stroller. For that I really liked the Peg Perego Aria...same idea as the Twin, but half the size.

At the L.A. Zoo

Naptime

All my irritation over Audrey's non-stop spitting up, poopy clothes, fussiness and reluctance to nap disappears with one little glance at this:


Doesn't that image just make you feel like all is right with the world?

Maggie requested a walk this afternoon, so we put on our hooded sweaters, loaded Audrey into the stroller and strolled down the sidewalk. Maggie picked some flowers for her Unca Dave and Aunt Maili, and took a turn pushing the stroller.


Pretty soon I'll be able to send the two of them out together while I catch up on my soaps and ice cream.

On our way back, Maggie wanted to see the moon. We found it in the dusky sky, and Maggie reached up her arms and said "I catch the moon!" Then she stopped and said, "Too far. My can't reach." Then she said, "My try tomorrow."

Genius update

Maggie's latest signs of genius include:

• Spelling her name: M-a-g-i-e. Coincidentally, this is also how she spells Mommy, Daddy, Gaga, Papa, house, car, and vacuum cleaner.
• Recognizing most of the letters and saying words that start with those letters (C! C is for cat!)
  
• Singing the alphabet song (she's been able to for a couple months, actually)
• Making up her own verses to "The Wheels on the Bus" (ie, "The papas on the bus say buckle my shoe"; "The houses on the bus say hello I'm a house")
  
• Counting past 20 with a little help (sometimes 14-15 are left out)
• Counting to diez in espanol
• Playing hide-and-seek almost by standard rules (she prefers to do the counting whether she is hiding or seeking)

Our day

I woke up this morning and determined to get out the door and do wonderful enriching activities with the girls. I managed to get us all dressed and out at 9 a.m. -- not bad. Stopped at the bank for cash (thank you Robert for earning all the money) and went to Noah's to have a bagel (me), muffin (Maggie) and big soda (me and Audrey, later). I was feeling proud of our success thus far and promising Maggie a stop at the bookstore, when Robert called my cell phone to remind me we had Audrey's 6-month check-up to go to. OOPS!

So I hustled the girls out of there. If there's anything Maggie hates, it's being rushed. But luckily we made it to the pediatrician on time and got Audrey's check-up and shots accomplished. She did fine except that the doctor heard a heart murmur; apparently these are common and almost always "innocent," so we're not really worried, but we are being referred to a pediatric cardiologist just in case.

Back to the rest of our day. After naps and lunch, I took the girls to Vroman's--the best bookstore in the area. Maggie was being good as gold but it didn't save her from the Deadly Elevator, which pinched her fingers in its doors. All of a sudden she was screaming and her fingers were caught in the (retracted) door. I screamed "HELP!" and then managed to wiggle her fingers free. An employee came over, but by then I had her in my arms and she seemed okay. The Deadly Elevator peeled the top layer of skin off on one finger, but it was so minor that there was no blood and now, it's just barely red. Besides that (and two poopy diapers) it was an uneventful visit. We read a billion stories, admired the fancy expensive pop-up books, and scoured the half-price Christmas shelves for bargains.

We came home and made mac-cheese-hotdogs for dinner (one of Daddy's favorites). Maggie insisted on making carrots. She does this by dragging her stepstool to the kitchen counter and dumping baby carrots into a bowl so I can microwave them. We're a gourmet team.

That was our day. How was yours?

The poison face

This is what happens when I try to feed Audrey anything besides oatmeal. To us, it looks like applesauce. But to Audrey, it's clearly POISON.


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An hour of peace

We had a small first today--Audrey stayed in the nursery at church while we sat in the service, uninterrupted. Up until now we've been keeping her in the back pew with us, where she's been (mostly) content to nap, nurse or be held. But now that she's older, noisier and more interested in playing, it made sense to try her in the nursery. It was reported that Audrey played with the baby toys and spit up often; Maggie painted a picture and consumed vast quantities of Goldfish and juice. So, both were happy.

Saturday outing

We took the girls to a children's museum this morning. If you're in the L.A. area and have kids under 6, you should try it. It was full of activities that Maggie loved, including a small carousel, a life-sized city bus, a stage, an indoor treehouse, craft activities, and much more. Audrey had fun watching everything from the bjorn. Afterwards, we ate a picnic lunch in the adjacent park and then ran around the playground for a while. Fun Saturday.

There are a bunch of real stuffed animals that the kids can touch. Robert made me put Audrey's hand in the bear's mouth:

Now Maggie's driving the bus:

Doing her grocery shopping:

She's getting too big for the bjorn:
Maggie was a little scared on the carousel, but toughed it out:

At long last

Today, after nearly a year of waiting, I finally received my last freelance check from Yahoo!. It's only for $600, but it's been a long and annoying process to get it. They were never terribly fast about paying me, but having to wait this long is ridiculous. Of course, once I got it I thanked my contact and told them I'm available for freelance again. Because unless you're an extraordinarily prolific freelance writer like my friend Jesse, you generally take whatever work you can get and try not to complain (not to the people who write the checks, anyway).

After 7 months of maternity leave, I am in fact planning to start working a little. I'm hoping that it will be good for my mental health and won't add to my stress.

Deb is great! Give us the chocolate cake!

I'm baking two chocolate cakes tonight for a boy at the group home supported by Junior Circle. Our auxiliary dates back to the 1920s, when the group home was an orphanage and some society ladies decided to start baking birthday cakes for the children. The tradition has lasted all these decades and continues today with every boy at the group home requesting his favorite type of cake for his birthday, and us Junior Circle ladies baking them. For some reason, strawberry cake is a very popular flavor, and I did make one of those last year. But my first cake this year is "chocolate with chocolate icing," and since there are 15 boys in the cottage I'm making two cakes.

I was feeling sorry for myself, baking these delicious chocolate cakes, and none for me. Then I had a stroke of genius. I scooped a bit of batter out of each cake pan and cooked up two little fairy cakes just for me.

That's not selfish or wrong, is it? I mean, really, what could be wrong with this:

The Target 150

My smart friend Jeanne introduced me to the concept of the "Target 100." What this means is that every time you go to Target, no matter how few things you intend to purchase, you'll always end up spending about $100. This was true for me until I had kids. Now I have to call it the Target 150 or even the dreaded Target 200, which occurs when vast quantities of diapers must be purchased. Today, however, was a standard issue Target 150.

$157.04, to be exact.

What did I get for it? Something fun like DVDs or toys? A bagful of new makeup? No my friends. I got boring every day workaday keep the household more or less running supplies. Bleah.

To make ourselves feel better, the girls and I hit the party store afterward and I indulged Maggie in a couple of Dora trinkets. It's quite a thing to behold, to see how much joy a 2-year-old can experience from the acquisition of a Dora the Explorer flashlight.

My favorite time of day

Disclaimer: When I'm tired, I'll probably say that my favorite time of day is 8pm, when the girls are in bed and I can flop on the couch.

But in my heart of hearts, my most favorite time of day is in the morning before my shower. Most days, the girls and I spend at least a few minutes cuddling, playing and reading books on the big bed.


Then while I take a shower, Maggie sits on the bed and reads books or watches TV. What to do with Audrey is a continually evolving process. I used to put her in the bassinet, then I dragged in the bouncy seat, now I'm been experimenting with putting her on the bathroom floor with a few toys. Today she was so absorbed with the black and white tiles that I couldn't get her to smile for the camera.

One step forward, two steps back

We pretty much had Audrey sleeping through the night. We were letting her cry it out when she woke up at night, and most times she only cried for a minute and went back to sleep. Then there were a couple of glorious nights when she slept 7-7 without a peep! Then she woke up at 5:30 a couple days in a row. THEN we got sick. I just can't let her cry it out when she has a cold and is all stuffed up and feeling miserable, so last night I nursed her at 11:30 and 4:30, accompanied by nose suctioning and much screaming. When the cold is over, we'll be back to square one. Sigh.

Woe is me

Guess who's sick again? My brother and his family brought us a cold for Christmas, and after feeling grumpily sniffley for a few days my symptoms have blossomed into a full-blown cold. Do you realize that I have not been completely well since before Thanksgiving? That was SIX WEEKS ago.

I'm ready to stage a massive revolt and run away to some secluded, sunny place where there are no germs, no children, no dirty dishes, no crumpled kleenex...just me and a stack of books and a handsome fellow to bring me snacks and drinks...maybe the occasional foot rub...but no conversation...just perfect silence and no responsibilities and nobody to take care of and (please God) no more being sick.

Is that so much to ask?

Happy New Year

We had a lot of fun last night making s'mores with the girls. Maggie was very enthusiastic about the fire and the toasting of marshmallows, although she didn't actually eat any of the finished product. All she did was gnaw on a marshmallow for a while (it was great finding what was left of it stuck to the coffee table in the morning). The girls were in bed by 7:30 and I didn't make it much longer. I slept through the changing of the year. Robert was playing a computer game and didn't notice when it slipped past midnight. We're a rowdy bunch, for sure.



I guess things like New Year's don't seem as important or momentous once you have little kids. For one thing, they don't care. For another, it's not like we can celebrate like we did New Year's Eve 1999 in Las Vegas with drinks in our hands and cash on the blackjack table and confetti in our hair. Ahh, those were the days! But mostly it's that every day is sort of the same (sort of special) as our little girls grow up slowly (too quickly). Today was the first day of a new year, but we spent it the same way we always do, with snacks and stories and naps and nursing.

Sometimes I feel a little bogged down in the drudgery of every day being the same with no real break--there are no vacations, weekends or sickdays for stay-at-home-parents (I know that parents who work have their own set of challenges, but at least they get some variety). But at least once a day (usually a dozen times) I am seized with the preciousness of this time with my girls while they are little and as well-known to me as my own self. Tonight I lingered over Maggie's bedtime ritual, reading story after story until her eyes drooped, then holding her close while her lullaby CD played. Her head on my shoulder and hand curled on my chest, she reminded me of herself as a baby, and of Audrey. I can't imagine a day when she'll be too big to hold and too grown-up to tolerate hugs. Best not to think about it, or I'll make myself weepy.

Happy New Year. I'm praying for 2006 to be as happy and blessed as last year.