Breakfast

In the past few years yogurt has been a hit or miss food for me. During my pregnancy with Reese it strangely gave me heartburn, and during my pregnancy with Paige just about everything made me feel ill. But I have discovered a brand and flavor I adore:

Stonyfield Fat Free Lemon Yogurt.

It's pretty fancy as far as I'm concerned--it's organic and it costs $0.88 per cup. I indulged in buying three cups of it last week during my weekly grocery stop. Then, I tried to enjoy it for breakfast. I say "then" because here's what happened to my yogurt this week:

1. My first attempt at yogurt eating came on Tuesday morning. Seeing that Mommy was enjoying something different for breakfast, Reese asked to try a bite. I obliged and she deemed it "scrumptious." After seeing Reese try some, Paige started banging her spoon around, so I gave her a bite too. Fastforward ten minutes and more than half of my yogurt has been devoured by alternating bites between Reese and Paige. I guess that's one way to reduce my calorie intake.

2. On Wednesday morning I got a late start on my breakfast. I opened my yogurt, set it next to my coffee and then promptly had to go change a poopy diaper and get Paige ready for her morning nap. I came back about ten minutes later to find that Reese had abandoned her play and finished off my yogurt for me. I guess she really had enjoyed it on Tuesday. Why did I ever think to share?

3. On Thursday morning I opened my yogurt but got sidetracked yet again after eating only two bites: I suddenly remembered that I HAD to mail our Netflix movie back this morning. (More understandable if you know our mailman's schedule and consider the fact that we had had the said disc in our possession for over a month.) I grabbed the girls and walked across the street to the nearest mailbox to pop it in. Round trip it's not even 100 yards. When we got back I found Annie on her bed with my yogurt cup between her paws licking the cup clean.

I swear I'm not exaggerating...you can't make up this kind of bad breakfast karma.

Lights, Camera, Action

Last weekend, I took Reese to see her first move in a movie theater. We made plans for Daddy to stay home with Paige, and we enjoyed a matinee of "The Winnie The Pooh Movie" on Sunday at lunch time.

We talked about it and planned for the experience all week. We read AA Milne's collection of Pooh-Bear stories at naptime and bedtime all week long, visited a local grocery store to stock up on some bulk candy (to sneak in in mommy's purse of course), and talked all about how big the screen was going to be ("Bigger than the TV, even?") and how the projectionist would turn off the lights.

The morning of the movie, we packed up mommy's purse, brought pink blankie to help us keep warm in the theater, and set off.

Overall, Reese loved the whole experience. She sat still during the entire film (it was only an hour long), used her whisper voice to tell me things like, "Mommy, I know where Eeyore's tail is!," and munched on candy and popcorn the whole time. I think this was the perfect age and perfect movie to introduce her to.

My own observations on the experience:
* While I felt a little weird bringing pink blankie along, I shouldn't have. I swear some parents packed tents (or at least a small suitcase) full of toys, stuffed animals, and blankets for their children.
* Disney, your previews were nearly the end of me. I'm glad the lights were down, because between the trailer for the dolphin with a prosthetic tail and the orphaned chimpanzee I was admittedly blinking back tears. How would I have explained that to Reese? "Sorry honey, mommy's hormones are permanently addled thanks to child birth, and now the sight of hurt and abandoned animals makes me cry."

Waving

I remember taking Reese to the grocery store when she was 8-10 months old. She was finally old enough, and stable enough, to sit in the grocery cart and she would watch all the people and things go by. Other grocery store patrons would ooh and ahh or smile and wave whenever we passed by. Reese's response to strangers smiling and waving at her: a serious stare. To this day, Reese still struggles with greeting people. Every morning during the school year, her school's director welcomes her by name and Reese hides behind my arm. The employee manning the checkout lane at the grocery store asks Reese if she wants a balloon and Reese hides behind my leg. If you're a guest at our house, or Reese knows you well, you'd never guess she can be shy. And I should be thankful that she's not overly friendly with strangers, it just makes me stop and think because on the other side of the divide is Paige.

Paige started waving a little over a week ago, and she can't be stopped. She crawls over to the stove regularly so she can wave at her reflection. Tell her "hi!" or "Bye-bye" and she will wave like crazy. I took Reese and Paige to the grocery store today and Paige was like a pageant princess on parade waving at everyone she saw. Will the shyness kick in later? Or is this a trend I'm likely to see forever? Only time will tell. In the meantime, I've got one who knows how to "mean-mug" and another girl who's all-smiles-all-the-time. What a combo.

Trouble

Sometime in the last two weeks, Paige has gone from belly flopping around the house (her sloppy-inchworm way of crawling) to on the move. I can't put my finger on the day (bad mommy/second child syndrome), but one day Paige got up on her hands and knees and took off. She's been into nothing but trouble ever since.

Unlike big sister who took her time getting comfortable with her new found mobility, Paige began pulling up the same day she started to really crawl. The result: a quick check in on her at nap time = oh, there's Paige standing in her crib trying to strangle herself with her mobile. Cue a panicked mommy and Daddy rushing to remove her mobile, lower her crib, and move the cord for her video monitor.

I didn't realize how un-baby-proofed our house had become in Reese's toddler years, but Paige has been quick to point out any and all weaknesses in our lines of defense. Recent run ins include the only TWO sockets in the house that didn't have covers, the bar full of glassware, and the stretch of flooring that hasn't had its baseboards replaced yet. Add to this our daily bouts of overturned dog and cat food dishes and my house is a constant disaster. While I could watch Reese motor around the house at this age, with two kiddos in the house one of them is bound to get in trouble the second I turn my back.

While I'm thrilled Paige is now happily able to explore her surroundings, the other disgusting drawback to having a crawler in he house again is seeing first-hand how dirty my floors are. I can sweep and vacuum every day, and Paige will still manage to find dog hair or lint to put in her mouth. Almost worse than imaging what she might be squirreling away into her mouth, though, is seeing how filthy her clothes are when you pick her up from her jaunts around the house. It makes this seem like a great idea:

Food!

Kevin had Monday and Tuesday off to celebrate the fourth, and he used his time to cook up some spectacular meals for the family.

On Monday, ribs that fell off the bone. There were at least three steps, he used the grill and the oven, and it took most the day, but the results were amazing! Served with margaritas for Mommy and Daddy, home made sweet potato fries, and corn on the cobb. Yum!

(This picture was taken before the sauce went on.)

On Tuesday, Kevin outdid himself again. He made whole wheat sourdough crusts for two pizzas. (He's been caring for a sourdough starter for weeks now--so no need to ask what the giant jar of brown goop in my fridge is.) The first pizza was a prosciutto, cantaloupe, and goat cheese concoction. I could probably survive on only this pizza for the rest of my life and still be happy. His second (and more kid-friendly) pizza had pesto and tomatoes from our garden. They both got a quick grilling on our pizza stone outside, and then it was time to dig in. Delish!


I told Kevin that if we hit the lotto he can stay home and cook everyday. He smirked and reminded me that nothing he cooks takes less than five hours of prep....so, it may not be practical, but it was a nice treat.

Fourth of July

Fireworks were out of the question with this year's drought, but we enjoyed some time out at Horseshoe Bay with Grandma and Grandpa Bailey and the Gabriels.

Paige Milestones

Paige continues to do great! I decided to wait until after our family photos to introduce her to any kind of milk products (the last thing we needed in the days leading up to our photos was for Paige to break out in a crazy rash!), and so far things are going well. She hates yogurt (Reese didn't mind eating all of her yogurt melts and baby yogurt cups for her), but likes cheese. We're slowly moving away from baby food since her pincher grasp is getting better, and unlike her sister she will eat just about anything we put in front of her. Ribs? Sure. Sweet potato? You bet. Avocado? Yes, please! You name it, she will try it and likely enjoy it. I know better than to hold my breath, though. I'm sure between one and two she'll be eating the tan-toddler-diet like Reese was.

Paige is almost crawling. I can't remember how old Reese was when she began to crawl, but I think she did it a little sooner than Paige. If Paige was my first kid I might be freaking out about her lack of mobility, but I can tell that she's just not in a hurry about things. I wouldn't dare say she has a type B personality, but I think she's on the A- side and is trying to teach her parents and sister how to relax. That being said, she's now getting up on her hands and knees and lunging toward things.

Last night at bedtime, Paige pointed for the first time. We were reading "Good Night Gorilla" and she pointed to the Gorilla on every page. How exciting!

Reese's Summer

Reese's summer has been full of imaginary play--and the more toys involved, the better.

If left to her own devices, Reese has taken to creating forts in our living room using every pillow, blanket, and cushion she can find. (Which includes plundering every room in the house to find them.)

Reese also enjoys making picnics and parties. She lays out her pink blankie in the hallway or in her room and proceeds to invite all her stuffed animals and use all the food from her kitchen and baby station to entertain them.


We also recently introduced Reese to Legos. Not big toddler-sized Legos, the REAL thing. (Which happen to be Kim and my collection of childhood Legos. Yes, I did save them that long, and they used to be a hit in my classroom during rainy day recess.) The first night we got them out for Reese, I think Kevin and I had more fun than she did. Since Paige gets into everything, Reese can only play with them in her room with her door closed, but those rules have not dissuaded her yet. I must admit that stepping on Legos in bare feet might be almost as painful as stepping on upturned Barbie high heels.

Suddenly Reese knows all her letters and letter sounds. There have been no flash cards or drills, and Mommy has no time for reading instruction, but somehow she's figured it all out. Now she likes to say words and then inform us what they start with. "/P/, /P/, Paige. Paige starts with P! So does penguin, and purple, and pink, and...." You get the picture. I guess reading comes next, but wow, I'm not quite ready for that. On second, thought, if it means she can read to herself, maybe I am...

Family Photos

Again, I am behind on blogging. I'd like to say my absence is not becoming a habit, but I fear it is.

At any rate....

Several weekends ago, we had our first family photos taken. During my pregnancy with Paige, Kevin and I discussed how we wanted to splurge on some professional family photos once Paige was old enough to be manageable. We've only taken professional photos on one other occasion when Reese was little--and I'm not exaggerating. There were no professional photographers at our wedding and since Reese's birth there have been no jaunts to the mall for photos. Since we'd waited so long, we were nervous and excited about how things would go.

At Darryl and Kelly's wedding we met their photographer and were blown away by her pictures. When I inquired about having a family photo shoot done with her I found just what we were looking for. (To get lost in some of Carli's amazing photos you can visit her site here.)

The day before the shoot was full of wardrobe snafus that almost sent us over the edge. Dressing the four of us in coordinating, but not matching outfits was just about the end of me: Paige's dress was one size too big and had to be returned, Kevin went to iron his shirt and the pad from our ironing board (which Kevin's had since college) bled blue dye all over it so he had to find another outfit as well, and when I went to try on my dress the shoulder straps were magically too long and I had to take them up two inches on each side--thank God, mom gave me her sewing machine.

The day of the shoot, Kevin and I woke up at the crack of dawn (5AM to be exact) so we could shower and get ready before the girls woke up. The girls were in good moods, but I was worried Reese would play shy, and Paige would have mommy meltdowns.

Carli and John arrived and we hit up the park in our neighborhood and our backyard for the photos. While Reese was a little shy at first, Carli and John were wonderful with her and she came out of her shell quickly.

Carli posted a sneak peek of our photos the next day and we're hoping to see the rest soon!