Gearing up

Two little girls are coming to my house today, to stay and play through the weekend.

I'm getting the last loose ends tied up in preparation for their arrival. I fully expect to be tired after the weekend is over, but in a good way. Blainey is Olivia's real good friend and they play together so well and have so many adventures together. Isla bounces back and forth between trying to catch up with the big girls and entertaining Konks. There will be kids sleeping in every nook and craney, but I truly think it will be a magical extravaganza weekend for these little ones.

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I love them like they are my own. Olivia has been talking about Blaine coming to stay all week. I am probably the most organized (mentally and physically) that I have ever been... meals planned out, activites to keep 'em entertained. Is it crazy that I am starting to get excited about my house being a kid zoo?!?! First meal with a full house will be chocolate chip pancakes!

Mommy's Room

After nap time I changed Bianca's diaper and then asked Olivia if she was excited to play with her sister. She exclaimed yes and then said she wanted to play in Mommy's Room. She wasn't pointing to my bedroom, she was pointing to the living room all the while exclaiming "yea!! play in Mommy's room!!". Apparently someone in this house watches a little too much television. I corrected her on the right name of the room.
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Of course this happens on a day that has already been a bit challenging, so the fact that my child thinks I spend so much time in the living room to dub it as MY room was a teensy bit depressing. The fabulous news is that tomorrow will always be a new day, a new start, a clean slate. Even if today didn't go how I would like it to, I can always try harder tomorrow. I have actually almost completely stopped watching TV in the daytime, but apparently my TV fall/winter coma made a lasting impression on my child. Spaghetti night is also a good cure all, that and an enormous batch of chocolate chip cookies. Maybe if I start to really get my bake on she will call the kitchen Mommy's room. I could handle that ;)

Holding Court

Olivia was holding court in her room the other day and she thought it was picture worthy. Her throne of choice was her toddler bed, with dolly (aka barbie) tucked in beside her.

There was only one in attendance, and this fair maiden was enjoying chomping on a sandal and a bracelet. I was probably off trying to wash dishes, or fold laundry.

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Who am I kidding, more likely I was on the computer either checking blogs/writing blogs/checking email.

Then the fair maiden decided the camera looked like fun and wanted to be a part of the action. This was the last picture. I found my camera also tucked into her blankets, which I am assuming was a defensive move to protect it from the fair maiden.

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I keep telling myself I am going to stop letting her play with my camera, but the pictures she takes are so much and so different then the things I normally take pictures of.

Mullet... Go Big or Go Home.

The following pictures are real and have not been altered or staged in any way. The following pictures may not be suitable for all audiences... especially if you have an aversion to mullets and/or bedhead. Here is Olivia. It is early in the morning and she is eating her breakfast. The front of her hair is all magical, smooth and shiny (besides the longish bangs swooping down in her eyes). Nary an Afro or tangle to be seen... at least not from the front.

Then she turns sideways and you are almost knocked over by the sheer force of power that is her mullet/bed head. Right at the back of her head is the most rats nest, Afro, jumble of hair the world has ever seen. Sticking straight out the entire length of her hair. I'm pretty sure that sucker has its own gravitational forces. I about cried when I saw it because A) It looked pretty ridiculous and was funny and B) I knew I would have to detangle that sucker and it wasn't going to be pretty.

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I opted for letting her soak it out in the shower with about half a bottle of leave in conditioner. I would touch it, pat it down or try to smooth it out thinking there is no way that thing could be as huge as it looked, and just like a tempur pedic mattress memory foam it would warp back into its original shape. My only consolation is the fact that I know, someday many years from now when it is 70's day during her high school spirit week she is going to blow everyone away with her Afro abilities.

Like Dis?

Olivia is doing good with her big girl bed transition. She is having a little bit of a hard time with falling out of it at night. Usually at least once or twice she rolls out, gets dazed and confused and then either 1) falls asleep crazily on the floor or 2) cries til we come help her back in.
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Marcus had crazy good hearing tonight and heard her fall out of bed. We put her back in and laid her all the way to the back so she would have room to roll over and not roll off. She was being so cute! She would say "Like dis?" as in is this how you want me to lie down? But as she was saying that she would reposition herself right to the very outside edge. Then we would move her back and she would go "oh like dis?" while again wiggling to the outside. This happened like 7 times in a row. We wouldn't have kept trying to move her in more except EVERY time that she repositioned she put herself right to the very edge of the mattress. I felt like I was in a comedy movie. It was really hard to keep quiet and not laugh. Especially because she was being so polite, all half asleep and all, but unintentionally undoing everything we tried to do.
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Eventually she didn't roll over and stayed on the inside, all the while still remarking "like dis?". The other night I nearly bonked her head with the door because she had fallen back asleep right in front of her bedroom door (after falling out and stumbling around for a minute). I think it will take a little while for her to get used to the fact that there is no front to keep her fenced in.

Bed Head

I'm not sure how Olivia does it EVERY SINGLE NIGHT, but she always wakes up with the craziest, afro, rats nest hair in the morning. It is all crazy and poufy in the front and the back looks like I back combed and teased it for hours until it was just a big fur ball. The only way to tame the beast is to cover her head for like 30 seconds with a warm towel to let the steam loosen it up, that or giving her a bath first thing (bath times are normally after dinner at our house).
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It just totally cracks me up every morning to see how crazy looking her hair has gotten!

Growing Up

Someone is getting big, so big in fact that she is no longer caged at night time.

She is now sleeping in a "big girl" bed. Which basically means we took the front off her convertible crib and it is now a toddler daybed. She could not be more excited! She has been proudly telling everyone that she is a big girl now.

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Also included on list of big girl activities? Big girl chair at meal time, no more high chair! She had been eating half the time in a high chair and half the time in a regular chair, but I am downsizing baby stuff so I am getting rid of her high chair (yes my kids each have their own, we got crazy on baby gear in this house... hence the downsizing). She mostly eats at the bar stool by the counter. She pushes her little chair to the bar stool and then climbs up.

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I had been dragging my feet about it not for the night time aspect, but for the nap time aspect. Plus I was kinda getting sick of hefting her out of her bed every morning (she aint no light weight). Plus she has been happier when she wakes up, no whining. She just strolls out of her room with a big smile on her face. We shall see how nap time goes down, I am fully expecting her not to sleep and just putz around in there, what with all her new found freedom. It will be a work in progress.