Author Archives: carrievoris

Birthday Fairy Best Shot Monday

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Hey! Check it out…a photo that is not of my girls! Can you believe it?

It does happen to be another Emma, tho’.  Emma Louise, aka “Little Emma”, turned 3 this weekend and we celebrated up in the Glen with her. The fairy outfit was a gift from her Nana and she looked the part flying through the air on the swing…

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Happy Birthday Little Em! Don’t forget to stop over to see other Best Shot Monday pics.

I have about 200+ fun pics to put up, including Emma Grace’s attempt at rollerskating this weekend (Grace may not have been the best choice for a middle name for her in retrospect, but they are fun pics!) and I had an amazing night last night that I’ll attempt to describe, maybe during naptime? I’ll work on all that. Stay tuned. Happy Monday!

Randomness from the depths of my bag

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I just bought a new purse/bag that I have been eyeing for a few months at the motherland (Target). I finally used my birthday gift card from my parents (Thanks, Mom & Dad!), broke down and bought it. Isn’t it cute???

purse.jpg

I also got a great deal on a new wallet (clearance for $4.94! I love you, Target!!) that I clearly needed since my previous wallet was drowned in spray sunscreen while we were on vacation. All of my credit cards were stuck together and de-activated, and let’s just say the wallet was not returning to any sort of usable state again.

So, as I was unloading my old bag and wallet and putting the “necessary” items into my new bag, I was reminded of a blog that I read awhile back where the mommy “emptied” her purse for all to see. And I thought you might enjoy a peek into chaos that lives in my bag on any given day. I’m betting that most of you Moms won’t be surprised at the contents, that it in fact looks a lot like your bag, too!

Contents of this Mommy’s bag:
1. package of wipes
2. empty wrapper from last package of wipes (It was emptied probably a week ago.)
3. 2 diapers
4. cute little pouch (It is called diapees and wipees – and no, neither were actually in the pouch.)
5. a tube of Zwitsal (Dutch diaper creme leftover from our vacation, but works surprisingly well.)
6. wallet (The sunscreen-soaked one. Mmmm…smells like vacation. Also devoid of any money because of vacation!)
7. measuring tape (For measuring armoires, of course! We already bought one, a week ago.)
8. Balance bar (Only the honey yogurt peanut ones, please!)
9. half-eaten Balance bar (A. loves “bahs!” But tires of them after about 4 bites.)
10. 21 receipts to be entered into Quicken (See #6 above. Therefore, not actually in wallet.)
11. 2 dry cleaner pick-up slips (Don’t even need those to pick up dry cleaning at our place.)
12. pack of post-it notes (For my budding Picasso. Girl Scout turned Mom…always prepared!)
13. pair of kid’s chopsticks (Not sure where these came from, but could potentially have many uses!)
14. lip balm (1/2 of it dug out by little fingers.)
15. first-aid kit (Tylenol, baby Tylenol, baby medicine syringe, 2 Dora band-aids)
16. bottle of Purell (I know, I know…don’t let the kid drink it!)
17. box of business cards (The coolest cards, evah! J. got them for me with my flickr photos for Christmas.)
18. empty Tylenol bottle (Was going to either recycle it or refill it…not sure which.)
19. 5 pens (Why have one when you can have 5!)
20. stickers from Trader Joes (God love TJs, but if I find another monkey sticker on my butt I’m going to have to boycott the place.)
21. $1.72 in change (Again with the problematic wallet…)
22. 3 books of stamps (Each of them have like 3 stamps in them.)
23. Huggies diaper coupon (Hey! It hasn’t expired yet…it could possibly get used yet.)
24. photo insert (You’d think with all of the photos I take I could put a couple of photos of the girls in my wallet…I have pics of my nieces, instead. They are only about 2 years old!)
25. 1/2 roll of Tums (You are supposed to take a couple of Tums before a bikini wax, it helps so you don’t feel sick to your tummy. Too much information? Sorry.)
26. one pair of sunglasses (Only my second pair of the season so far. Another reason to buy cheap ones at Target.)
27. another pair of purple heart-shaped sunglasses (About 3 sizes too small for my head, though.)
28. packet of baby sunscreen (From last summer – you think it is still effective?)
29. Tide pen (What can I say about the most-used thing in my bag? Truly a lifesaver between me and 2 messy girls.)
30. 2 tubes of lipstick (Not that I ever really get a chance to put it on, but it is there…giving the illusion that I am G-L-A-M-O-R-O-U-S. Just like Fergie.)
31. 3 bobby pins (Mostly for my hair, sometimes for Em’s.)
32. one pair of iPod headphones (My iPod is NEVER in my bag, though. So I don’t use these headphones. Ever.)
33. 2 bottled water caps (Yes, just the caps. Don’t ask.)

Now to decide what truly needs to make it into my new bag. I’m thinking some of it can be tossed. What do you think?

Potty Update

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We had dry pants all morning long.
2 pee-pees in the potty.
And all of this driven by A. herself.
(I honestly am feeling a little lazy and not really ready to tackle the training bit, but…)

It can’t be this easy, can it?

This is how we roll…

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A. was playing with E.’s dollhouse this morning and was frustrated trying to fit all of the dolls into the little SUV. This is how our conversation went:

A: “Hup, peeas, Mama!”
M: “You need help putting them in the car, A.?”
A: “Yesth, Mama.”
(So I proceed to put the “Mom” in the driver’s seat.)
A: “NOOOOOOO! No dere!”
M: “Where does the Mommy go?”
A: “DERE!” (Pointing to the passenger seat.)
M: “Who is going to drive the car.”
A: “Daddy!” (She runs to get the Dad doll and comes back with the big sister.)
A: “Look, Emma Gaaacie, too, Mama.”
(So I put Daddy in.)
M: “Where does Emma go?”
A: “Here with Baby Addie!” (And then she flings the little carseat across the room.) “No seat! Baby Addie, no seat!”

Apparently she likes to live life dangerously – with Daddy driving and no car seat. How in the world does a 22-month old come up with stuff like that??

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Update: This afternoon we went out to run some errands and grab some lunch and I had forgotten that I took their carseats out yesterday to take the recycles over to the center, and also to do a vacuum of the car to get all the “kid leavings”. I opened up the door to A.’s side and she thought all of her dreams had come true! No car seats!! She was most unhappy when I started to put the seats back in, and her into the seat.

Next time, please stay home.

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Dear Fellow Yogi –

First off, do you have any idea how much I was looking forward to a quiet, relaxing hour of peace this morning when I arrived at yoga class?

I think you clearly did not. Otherwise you wouldn’t have come noisily into class late, dropping keys and shoes, and then proceeded to roll out your yoga mat practically on top of mine. Have you ever heard of a little thing called personal space? My moving my mat over didn’t give you a little hint that maybe your butt a mere 6 inches from my face was a little too close?

And the breathing. My God, the breathing! Your obscenely loud, Darth Vader-like inhales and exhales were unnerving, distracting and just about enough to put me over the edge. I just wanted to punch you in the throat. (Yes, that was how “at peace” I was – about as far from a Zen-like state as you can possibly get.)

And it wasn’t just me who was astonished by the noise emanating from you. Most of the heads in the class at one point or another, swiveled around trying to shoot a dirty look at the offending perpetrator. And I’m quite certain some of them thought the noise was originating from me. So thanks for that, too.

All in all, just wanted to commend you for turning my usually favorite hour of the week, into a completely unfulfilled disaster.

Most Insincerely Yours,
~carrie

What is a little Boop between sisters?

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Okay, so although I picked that photo for Wordless Wednesday, I simply can’t not talk about it. E. and A. are the funniest little girls…ever. Of this I am convinced. I am constantly amazed by the two of the separately, but together they are just priceless.

I wish I could just follow them around with a tape recorder every minute of the day to capture all of the funny stuff they say.  This morning I heard…

A: Emma! Emmaaa Gaaacie!
E: Yes,  Babykins? (This is her  own little combo of Baby and Addikins, she calls A. this when she is being super sweet.)
A: I did it! I did it! Yeah!
E: Mom! Addie went pee-pee in the potty! Addie we are proud of you, now you can wear big girl underwear like me! (And then she proceeded to try to get Addie to put a pair of her undies on.)
A: Oh, boopy. Bottom, boopy.
E: You have a poopy? Okay, sit back on the potty! Try! I’ll get you a book.
A: Yeths (her little lisping “yes”.) Like titty. Titty boop!

Note: Titty boop is…kitty poop. And we had just cleaned the litterbox out.
Also noteworthy: How old Emma sounds when she talks to A. like this! I know she learns it from me, but it is just so funny to hear her all motherly and sweet. It is much better than when she sounds like a grumpy, agitated version of me!

From one extreme to the other

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We are walking a precarious tightrope between two extremes with Addison lately. Either she is extremely sweet and loving and couldn’t possibly be any more adorable or she is in extreme, hysterical tantrum mode.

I would say about 90 percent of the time she is in the first mode. Such an incredibly bright, funny and sweet girl. But it is that other 10 percent of the time. Just run – far, far away from our house.

I have just been attributing it to being tired. The girl is such a routine baby it is scary, and it is very, very frightening is when she gets off of that routine. I can almost predict the nights that are going to be “rough.”

Unfortunately these “episodes” occur around 1am in the morning. She is exhausted, maybe didn’t have a nap, or didn’t get bath, snack, books, cuddles (in that order) before bed, whatever it is – it just sets her off. I am talking complete hysteria, she calls out for me, “Mama, MaaaMAAA! MAMA!” and it is with such angst that I just can’t bear it.

So I will go in to her room. Sometimes she isn’t even really awake, and if I try to pick her up she doesn’t want to be touched. So I’ll try to put her down, which sets off a whole new set of screams. At this point her face is nearly purple, she is so upset and I keep using the word “hysterical,” but it is the only word that truly describes the scene.

Okay, so let’s try a drink. I’ll get her a drink.  She screams “no dink, nooooo dink!” and propels the cup across the room.  Of course as soon as it lands, she screams, “dink! DINK! I wanna dink!”

And so it will continue. Usually for about 20-30 minutes until she just exhausts herself, falls asleep for the rest of the night and wakes up like none of this ever happened.

Um, what the….?

I kind of feel like it might be night terrors.  According to the BabyCenter article it really does seem like it may be a logical explanation.

“Related to being sleep deprived,” uh, check.

“Common cause could be a looming development leap,” yeah, another check.

And it isn’t every night. Yesterday was perfect. Denise said that she asked for her diaper to be changed and headed upstairs for her nap. (Yes, I know. We are also working on the potty training, she is asking to go, and definitely knows when she has to go. Maybe that is the looming developmental leap? Hmmm….)

Anyhow, She had a great nap. We spent lots of time doing everything in order last night and she fell asleep pretty easily. I didn’t hear a peep from her again until 8am this morning. She slept well and woke up happy.

I am just trying to stick as closely to her routine as possible, I guess. And I’m also off to buy her a nightlight for her room. It may be possible that she is waking up and is disoriented? Her room is really dark at night. I just am at a loss and willing to try anything. Anyone else ever had similar situations? Anything else I can or should try?