this will be a long-winded one

Here I am again, months later. Bad, Ginny! So much has happened! That'll show me not to wait so dang long!

The girls started gymnastics. Here they are looking so adorable:

Right?

Both girls absolutely love it and get to do it with some of their buddies, Alys and Charlie. So that's been fun!

School is going exceptionally well for everyone (including mom :)). Grace has really picked up on the reading, which was going a little slow this summer. Sydney seems to like school as well. She is still quite the little mommy's girl, and would much rather be with me, but is also meeting some fun new friends and gaining some much needed "socialization". Damn wild animal!

Wade and I got to go to Chicago for a tiny vacation and we had so much fun. I kept thinking to myself, "why did we leave?" There is so much to do! and see! and eat!

And then I remembered:

Wow, traffic is UGLY there. But we had so much fun reminiscing, seeing our good friend Maja, driving by our old apartment and a few of my old job sites. It was a fabulous birthday gift for Wade, who turned 30 (really 38--seriously how is life happening so fast? He was 23 when I met him!) September 10.

The girls also had fun at Annaliese's birthday party~~~ she had real, alive ponies! Which the kiddos loved.

Let's continue this epic post with a little soccer update! When I was having quite a heated debate with my friend Ashli and my brother regarding Grace and her "non-interest" in sports, team or otherwise, she decided to sit on the foam cooler and proceed to break it into a million pieces! Good job, Grace. You make your momma proud. Plus, you made me look right, which everyone knows how much I love to be right!

And last, but most definitely not least, Grace had a little, um, accident.

Yeah, she broke her wrist falling off the monkey bars at school.

So, allll that stuff I just reported on! Yeah, it really doesn't apply anymore.

She can still do choir though?!?!??!?! *gulp*

couch tater

Obviously, she was born the wrong gender.

I JEST!!

She just loves her Diego and her Oreo's.

Pretty much like my evenings, except I watch LA Ink and nibble on Jenny Craig cheesecake.

Like mother, like daughter.

End of an Era...maybe?!?!?

We are on day 3 without a nap. She is, thankfully, still not complaining about going down for one, but I can hear her kicking and playing for about an hour before summoning me to her room.

Sigh.

Why do they have to grow up and shit.

Does anyone think it may be a phase? Does anyone care?

In other news: HAPPY 2008!!!!!!!!!!!!

I always love the start of the new year. So full of promises, so full of hope, so full of days to screw your kids up more...

Ahhhhhh, the positivity. I, of course, have to point out that 2007 was a pretty decent year for me in the "resolution" department. As most of you know, I quit smoking March 2007, and stayed smoke-free to this very day. Alas, this brings me to the start of my new resolution for 2008. As I type, I can see my belly in my peripheral vision. Thanks to my healthy resolution of no smoking, I have picked up a not so healthy habit of EATING LIKE A FUCKING PIG. So, the time has come to shed some pounds.

Y'all know I can do it.

Mary had a sad little lamb...

My youngest child broke my heart into several million little pieces today.

She didn't want to perform in the theater as a little lamb. She wanted to sit on my lap and watch the other children perform the worst Christmas play to date. But, nooooooooo, her "teacher" wanted her to sit with the other children and sing the songs.

But she didn't want to.

(who is that poor motherless child in the background?)

And so I am the mother and I get to make those decisions. So she sat on my lap.

And was a happy little lamb.

The end.

It all ends up in the same place

What an amazing day!!! It's funny how your day can start off so ho-hum and end up spectacular. Well, that my be a bit of an exaggeration, but it was a damn fine day!! We went to brunch with my good friend Kathryn (sans Grace-she was with Daddy Dad). The little girls were soooo good and had soooo much fun. I just want to start out by apologizing to Kathryn for Sydney teaching Hailey J. the art of dipping.

Oh, I'm sure you are thinking about ketchup or ranch. Nope. It's milk.

I do not know why, but lately Sydney has been dipping, dunking and downright soaking all her food items in milk. It really is disgusting. The only thing I can make of it is that she loves cereal with milk, and the idea from that was born. Maybe? She made Grace so sick the other day putting, no lie here, green beans and peaches in her milk and then eating/drinking it all. What? It all goes to the same place, right? It's still apart of all the major food groups. Just really wet and nasty!!

Anyway, we had a blast catching up and because of our schedules, we never get to see each other. SO FUN!!!

And THEN, my friend Meredith (here from Cali) came by with her kids (age 1 and 3). They just played and played. Of course, Grace was in charge of the trampoline rules and etiquette. So we got to catch up.

And THEN, my other friend from highschool, Kadie, came over with her little girl (11 months). She and Meredith had seen each other last night at a wedding and made plans to do this get-together. So then we got to catch up. It was an afternoon of catching up!! So.much.fun.

And THEN, my husband came home for the night.

Perfection, I tell ya.

she made it all by herself

Berfday Lovin'

Well, enough of the last post! Let's move onto more sweet, adorable news! Like Sydney's birthday party!!! She doesn't actually turn 2 until Thursday, but since my dad is going gallivanting around Alaska with his new *cough* fiance *cough* we thought we would have it early. To accommodate him. Cause I'm nice like that.

Let us now turn to the future Mr. and Mrs. Steel:Sickly cute, no?

And here is one of the singing with her sisters, Grace and Lily. Who I just found out today, actually blew out Sydney's candles. Which we have video proof of. Don't worry, Ash, Sydney will be blowing out her other sister, Stella's, birthday candle in August. Paybacks.

And finally, the one gift that I actually let her open already. Her new baby with crib. I know, I'm brilliant. The baby has a bottle filled with milk, that Sydney calls, "Nulk". I swear she has fed that baby a gallon of nulk and taken her out of her crib 10 dozen times already. So. effing. cute.

Sydney had a blast, loved the suckers and thanks to everyone that came a partook(is that a word?) in the festivities. While it was mildly awkward to have our "new" family members attend, I was pretty much able stay away by quickly moving from room to room. Thankfully my brother did all the dirty work!!! Good job Bubby!!

no wonder she had bacterial pneumonia

This is no shizz. The other day at a Mexican restaurant I looked behind me to see what Sydney was doing (y'all know, she was being quiet) and to my utter dismay she was sticking her fingers in this poor woman's plumbers butt crack. I swear to Gawd I nearly spit my food out and crapped my pants all at the same time. Craziest part, the woman DID NOTHING. Let's hope it was just because she was embarrased!

"no, mine"

Yes, it's true. She had to say it sometime. It's just so very rude and ugly to the ear. The funny thing is that she only says it to Curly. Like 2o times already this morning. He walks in the room and you hear, "no! mine!". And we all know Curly. He gets his feelings hurt real bad, hangs his head down and leaves the room. Sydney then looks rather smug and continues on with the playing. With Grace's toy, no less.

Ah, the good 'ole days...

Friends, no more.

Just so long as Grace doesn't teach her to be a smart ass

I figured you people were having some Sydney withdrawls, so I am here to present to you the many unique qualities of my child (I am well aware that most of you are now rolling your eyes). I really just can't control myself. Not to mention lil miss Grace is going through some very terrible behavior issues at this time, so I think I'll still to lil miss thang for the time being. So here she is in all her glory:


Here she is placing beads on the little pegboard:

Here she is reading her book while lounging on the floor chair:




Here's a video of her using a fork:

Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share PhotosHere is a video of her coloring:

Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share PhotosHere is a video of her continuing to piss her mom off:

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All this and STILL no walking!!!

she's still got it...

Unfortunately Sydney had other things in mind this morning when we took her for surgery.

Yeah. 101 fever. So, no surgery. Dr. K said the risk for pneumonia was too great since she was running the fever. Obviously I was grateful for this for many reasons. 1) clearly we wouldn't want her leaving the office sicker than when she went in and 2)I didn't have to deal with the entire event. I have to admit that I was kinda relieved. I worried about her all weekend and this put us home by 7:30.

Whew. I called her in an antibiotic to clear up the probable ear infection and we will try again another time. I really want to put the whole damn thing off for awhile because, you know, I saw this as a sign.

So, we'll see.


HAPPY BIRTHDAY BUBBY!!!! (I won't tell his age...let's just say he's 7 years older than me and I'm about to turn 33...hmmmmmmmmmm)

LOVE YOU!!!!!

Under the Knife...

For all you out-of-towners, Sydney will finally be getting that gargantuan thing of her left cheek! We took her to the Dermatologist and he said it was a Spitznuvess...that's just an ugly name for a juvenile benign melanoma. Of course the thing can't just be frozen off, Sydney has to get all high falutant on us and have the operation performed on her by a plastic surgeon (wow, she's starting early!). So our adorable little one has to be put under anesthesia and have the damn thing surgically removed. And, yes, it HAS to be removed because of the rapid growth of the little bugger the chances are good that it could turn malignant. Waaa...sniffling...I'm sure I'll be a wreck on Monday. The doctor assures us that they will take the utmost care of her and the entire thing will only take 30 minutes. She'll have 4 stitches that I have to guard with my life or she'll have to have her arms taped down so she doesn't mess with it and increase the chances of an ugly scar...I swear I will check myself into a mental hospital if that has to happen. Can you imagine how PISSED she will be? Wow. The stitches will come out 4 days later and she will have a permanent scar. He said that by the time she is a teenager it will barely be visible based on the placement (it's in that little curvy part next to the nose). Sad. I know. So everybody, and I mean everybody, needs to be thinking about the little toot on Nov. 6 at 7:45am. Kay?
Here is the last look of the spitznuvess :

On a lighter note, we went to her 15 month check-up today and all systems are a go. She is 22 lbs. (yes, that's it) and 29 inches. 50 percentile for both. I swear she looks so much chubbier than that. Anyway, she was way in the mood to impress and was showing Dr. Julie her entire repertoire of animals, singing and such. Dr. Julie looked at her standing and said that she's fine, just choosing not to walk. So, there's that. No need to worry.

Happy Halloween people!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Please humor me

I know, it seems that I only post things about Sydney on this blog. But really, she's the one going through all the damn changes and doing the super-cute-baby-things. Everyone that knows me, knows that I also talk about Grace (although lately she has been more of a thorn in my side!). Next post will definitely be dedicated to her. But, for now, here is that little crazy girl doing what she does best!

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to all my peeps

Dear Internet friends!
This is Sydney here, and I just wanted to let everyone know that they can just stop worrying about me RIGHT NOW! I here you people talking about me (right in front of me no less!) And I just want to set the record straight: I'm a lazy ass! and simply am not walking because...I don't want to! I can crawl faster than I can walk and, frankly, think it's kinda funny to worry my mom. I stand up, she asks me to walk to her and I simply sit down. Now that's comedy. I'm leaving you with this little video of me taken by my mommy (God, her voice is annoying!) just to prove to you all that I can put weight (heavy as it is) on my cankles/feet. Enjoy!


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Love,



AKA the wimpy warrior AKA the crusher AKA the biatch

One Giant Step for Mankind...

O.K.,it may not be that big of a deal, but the big girl actually took one step. And then sat down. It was last Saturday and Ashli witnessed it as well. It was such a teensy step that I had to ask her if it counted and if I should put it in the baby book. Of course I'm going to! Anyway, I got her to take 2 steps today at ballet so yay!!! for Sydney. She's actually contemplating the idea of joining the human race and walking on her hind legs!
Not a whole lot more to report except that my once obnoxious baby has turned back into the lovable creature that I used to know and adore. She has stopped screaming irrationally and crying unexpectedly and is a whole lot more fun than the past couple of weeks so yay!!! for Sydney.
Sure wish I could post some new and adorable pics of my little ballerina and my little walker (ha!) but I'm still waiting for the thingy to arrive in the mail, so until then...AufWiedersehen!

The Labors of Labor Day

Let's all spell it together T-E-E-T-H-I-N-G. I have to admit, I would secretly scoff at the moms who complained about their children cutting teeth. I would think to myself, "oh, it can't be that bad" or "it's just an excuse for their babies being soooo grumpy." But people, I eat my words. And I rarely do that. This baby has never had so much saliva in her entire life. But, see, that's the good part. She is so utterly pissy that I can barely stand to be in the same room with her. Apart from her getting upset from everything to not being able to turn pages fast enough or the dog barely tapping her precious little shoulder, she can't eat. You people that know Sydney know this it the equivalent of me finding out that the DVR didn't tape Big Brother. This has sent her over the edge. If it has any texture to it, she bawls. I've had to feed her malt-o-meal for every meal the last 2 days. And this is very upsetting for the rest of the family as well. Gone are the days of semi-peaceful meals where my biggest issue was not being able to feed her fast enough. She just sits in her highchair and screams. Snacks for appeasement are gone for now. And I really feel sorry for her because I know it must really hurt. But she's KILLING ME!! a slow and very painful death. If you ever find out that you only have an hour to live, come to my house for that hour and I promise it will feel LIKE FOREVER!!!!!!!!!!

So unfortunately, our Labor Day sucked which pisses me off because Wade actually had 2 days off in a row (kinda) and they were spent running around trying to make the baby happy which was a goal unreachable...that is, until the sweet time of 7pm when I lay her down and just walk away. That was my favorite part of Labor Day. Sad, no?

How was your Labor Day? Was it filled with peaceful playing and laughing children?

the ongoing saga of "DADA"

Sydney is a talking machine. Everyday she uses a new word appropriatley to my amazement. She's up to about 12 or so words including the following: hi, "lo" for hello, dada, daddy, "waa-waa" for water, "baa " for ball, "diddy" for Sydney, "Gay" for Grace, doggie (this is used for dogs, cats, cows, etc), done, up, "thee" as in 1-2-"thee" emphatically. I can tell she's way beyond normal in the verbalization department( not so much in the physical department, you know, she's kinda lazy about walking.) I think she may take after her mama.
Except she won't say "mama". I mean I am starting to think that she does it on purpose. I'll say "mama" and she'll say, "dada". I'll say "mommy" and she'll say "daddy." No lie. If Wade is in the room, she'll say daddy like a thousand times, looking at him, smiling. Me, NADA!!!!! Just cute smiles and sniffs and every other word in her ever expanding vocabulary. Now, here is the part that makes me think something fishy is going on. My babysitter, Raye, claims that she says mommy and mama all the time. Wade says the same thing. And anyone who has been around Sydney knows that she will talk on command.
So what gives?
And really I don't know why I care. I get so tired of hearing "mom" all the live long day that maybe I should teach her another word for mommy altogether while I still have time. Any ideas?

1 down...99 to go (we hope)!

The birthday girl with her uncle Bubby!







Well folks, the first birthday party for little miss Sydney when down without a hitch (save my piercing headache). It was much like Grace's first with all the people, but this time there were MANY more children, which Syd loves. We had a magician for the older kids who also specializes in the most amazing balloon creations. So fun! And I think the kids really liked it as well. The poor man had to take on at least 10 kids at any given time, shouting and squealing for balloons. Grace had a blast and was sooo proud of her baby sister. I have to say the actual singing of the birthday was sooo amazing this time around. She loved the singing (and chanting by the other children to "eat your cake, eat your cake") and actually ate her cake and LOVED it (of course). And get this: she still took her nap! Yea!
Here is a pic of one proud mama holding the darling little cake that I made for her (the icing was homemade with lots of butter, cream cheese and powdered sugar!)

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Here she is impatiently waiting for the cake!









And this is when I first set the cake down. She was a little unsure...



And now we're getting somewhere...mmmmmm













Mommy loves you, Sydney!

Oh the sensitivity

For some unknown reason Sydney is, well, way too sensitive. If she barely hits her head on something, she wails like someone pushed her down a flight of stairs. Consequently, if another child touches her she looks at me and then begins wailing. I can't quite figure it out. The only thing I really remember about Grace is that she was a pretty grumpy baby. Not easily upset by minor falls or hits to the head. Just the general I-hate-life-and-every-toy-you-hand-me-is-so-lame kind of attitude. That's kinda funny too because as a 5-year-old, she is hardly ever grumpy. I swear the child wakes up in the best mood practically every day. Maybe that means that Sydney will be a badass when she is older. Kids will be able to knock her out and she won't even shed a tear. Huh, just a hopeful thought. Anyway, I am slightly apprehensive about the upcoming months with the walking and such. There is no way to prevent every fall and she is bound to get her little diaper in a wad. Oh well, distraction is usually the best trick for the toddlers (OHMYGOD she is about to be a toddler).

5 things I love about my baby

5. When I am getting her ready for bed, she "helps" me put the lotion on her by using her hands to rub it into her chest. So cute.

4. The minute I put her in the bath she shivers. Everytime.

3. When I'm cleaning off her face and hands in the highchair she proceeds to stuff any little morsel left on the tray like it is her last meal. Again, everytime.

2. If Grace happens to cry, she laughs.

1. She crawls over to the dog toy, pushes it to make it quack, and when she's got peanut's attention, throws it for her.

I was going to do something like this around her birthday, but I was so worried that she would stop doing one of these things and then I would forget it. I'll be doing one for Grace soon.

C'mon ladies, it's your turn. Let's hear your fave things about 'em.