Jane & me

Robert took Maggie and Audrey to visit relatives for the weekend, so Jane and I have been on our own since Friday night. It's been a very quiet, relaxing weekend, and I must admit that I have thoroughly enjoyed it. I haven't spent this much time focusing solely on Jane since she was first born. We have played, cuddled, talked, sung and eaten together. We went to CVS together (obviously). She even helped me read the newspaper and clip coupons this morning. She was thrilled to sit in the middle of the papers, crinkling them to her heart's content and squealing when I ripped up the pieces and threw them into the air. I've also had plenty of free time to clean up the house, fold laundry, do some writing, play around on the computer, watch a movie on TV, etc. It's amazing how easy and relaxing it is to only have one child to take care of! And it's been such a treat to be able to thoroughly enjoy the company of Miss Jane.

Adorable Audrey

Everyone poops (and pees)

Audrey is 99% potty trained. Yay! She only wears a pull-up at night, and most mornings it is dry anyway. She wears undies all day long, including during car trips and naps. She has accidents sometimes (some days are worse than others), but I blame myself for them. If I stay on top of it and remind her often enough, she does great. And usually I don't even have to remind her anymore.

As is to be expected, she likes to talk about everything related to the bathroom. She loves the book Everyone Poops, and often talks about the different animals' different size poops. She also wants to know what everyone else is up to in the bathroom. We have frequent exchanges like this:

Knock knock. Mommy, are you in there?

Yes.

Mommy, can I come in?

No.

Mommy, are you GOING to the BATHROOM?

Yes.

Mommy, is it poop or is it pee?

...

Mommy, I said is it POOP or is it PEE?

Pee.

Oh, are you sitting on the BIG toilet seat?

Yes.

Mommy? Knock knock.

Yes?

Mommy, can I come in now?

No.

Easter afternoon

Easter morning

Ready for Easter

The Easter Bunny hopped through our house early and left this spread for the girls. Robert and I were sitting in the family room working on our his-n-hers laptops when Maggie tip-toed in with a huge grin on her face. "Mommy, the Easter Bunny was already here!" I played dumb: "No Maggie, he won't come till late tonight." She said, "But Mommy! There's a bunch of stuff here! Come look!" So I went with her into the living room and was amazed to see the baskets, eggs and bunnies arranged on the table. Maggie and I gazed at everything in wonder for a minute before I walked her back to bed.

Soup and cookies

A few days ago, Maggie asked if we could make alphabet soup. Easy enough--I found a simple recipe and shopped for ingredients.

Meanwhile, I signed up to bring cookies to the preschool Easter party (tomorrow). I am not (and hope to never be) the mom who brings store bought anything to school. So I decided to make Easter egg shaped sugar cookies.

My only mistake was planning to do them on the same day. It made for a busy afternoon--I was on my feet in the kitchen for almost five hours (minus time away tending to the kids). But I actually enjoyed it (except for the parts when one or more kids were whining/crying/fighting over the best spot on the stepstool).

Maggie and Audrey had a blast helping me roll and cut the dough, and we all had fun "painting" the glaze onto the cookies. They got tired of making egg shaped cookies (we made 60!), so I let them finish up the dough making stars and hearts and gingerbread people. Maggie proudly helped me make the soup--mainly by pouring ingredients into the pot. Audrey helped me make the rolls. And Jane watched from her high chair (eating--and loving--her first arrowroot cookie) and obligingly took a long afternoon nap.

Jane is 9 months old

Palm Sunday

Easter eggs

On Friday, Maggie and Audrey helped me make a dozen hard boiled eggs (their job was to carefully place each egg in the empty pot). On Saturday, we mixed up the dye and they colored all the eggs. Orange was the favorite shade, it was decided.

Remember the photos from last year and the year before? I guess this has turned into a Graff Girl tradition!

Disney's California Adventure

Ballerinas

Afternoon

Painting in the backyard:

Morning

Chocolate milk tea party:

Computer games:

Hanging out:

Ungrateful wretches

Audrey: "What's that?"

Me: "Chicken. We're having chicken for dinner."

Audrey (in a jolly singsong): "I call it garbage, Mommy call it chicken, but I call it garbage, garbage chicken for dinner."

(later)

Maggie: "Eew, what's that smell?"

Me: "Chicken. We're having chicken for dinner."

Maggie: "Eew, it smells GROSS!"

(later)

Me: "Did you like the chicken?"

Robert (after a suspicious pause): "It was fine."

Time to update my resume

Maggie: Will you help me with this? (handing me a toy she needed pried open)

Me: Let's see if I can do it. If not, we'll have to wait till Daddy gets home.

Maggie: I think Daddy is the expert.

Me: Well, lots of people are experts at lots of different things. Like, Daddy is a computer expert....

Maggie: And you're the play-doh expert!

Me: Yes, yes I am.

1995-1998

Instructor of College Writing Classes

1998-2001

Internet Content Editor

2001-2003

Marketing Copywriter

2003-

Play-Doh Expert

Words to live by

Audrey, running up to me with a serious expression, shaking her head: "Mommy, we don't put our feet in the toilet, never. It will make us very sick."

I agreed whole heartedly. 

Also, seeing as I wasn't certain how Audrey came to this conclusion, I washed her feet with soap and water.

Another first for Audrey

Today we bought Audrey a (pre-owned) toddler bed, and she'll be spending her first night in a big-girl bed tonight! Now that she is doing so well with potty training, we figured it was time to give her the freedom to get in and out of bed on her own. Actually, she was already climbing into and out of her crib on occasion, so it was definitely time to make the switch!

We rearranged all the furniture in the big girls' room and have their two toddler beds side by side (yes, Maggie is still in a toddler bed, and she loves it!). It looks pretty cute and cozy in there. Once I get a new camera (grr...) I'll take a few pictures to share.

Broken things and dance class

Do things always go wrong in three's? In the past week, we had three very important items break: the hot water heater, the TV, and my camera. The hot water heater has already been replaced, the TV is being repaired, and I need to buy a new camera today.

Living without a camera even for just a few days is rough! Not being able to photograph Audrey's first dance class was nearly physically painful. If I'd been more organized I might have been able to shoot some pictures on my old manual (film!) camera, but I was out of film and didn't think to go out and buy some until it was too late. But, I'll get a new digital this week and will be able to take lots of pictures of dance class next week.

The class went great! It turned out that the teacher is Miss Suzie, the same ballet teacher Maggie had at her previous studio. Maggie was SO happy to walk in and see her same familiar teacher. We were also pleasantly surprised to find several of Maggie's preschool classmates there. I was just happy to find a class that the girls can take together--so convenient. Maggie of course was an old pro and did great. Audrey did really well considering it was her first dance class ever. She needed some extra instructions from Miss Suzie to stay on her mark, sit down, stand up, etc. And she came out the door to see me a few times. But she had fun and did most of the activities, and is looking forward to going back every Saturday.