Happy Thanksgiving!

I meant to have this video be a part of a larger Thanksgiving post, and I posted it to be sure the video was working, and it looks like now it is up for good because I can't figure out how to unpost it until I have time to add the rest.  We had a great day yesterday, both girls were really good so Luke and I actually got to eat dinner and relax *a little*.  I have about a million pictures to post, but for now I think this video says it all! 

Peas in a Pod

Well, we have had a pretty exciting week.  When you have your kids really close together in age, people who have done the same always tell you the same thing..."It's really hard at first, and then it will get better, because they will play together and entertain eachother."  This mythical, magical event was supposed to happen at some vaguely-described point in the future, "sometime after the baby is one".  These wisened parents usually start dangling this great event in front of you because they can see that you are exhausted, and poorly-washed.  They want to make you feel better, because they know first-hand that you are just barely hanging on.  For those of you who haven't experienced the joy of trying to keep a 2 year old happy and *quiet* while you are trying to put a 3 month old down for a nap when you've been up since 4:30am, well, let me tell you, it is...challenging.  So when someone tells you about how things are going to get better, even if 1 year from now seems like it might as well be 10 years, you hang on every.  Single.  Word. 

Luke and I are happy, no ECSTATIC, to report that our time is...now!  That's right, four months early!  Lucy and Maddie have been steadily more and more interested in each other in the past few weeks, but just this week they have become pretty much inseparable.  None of this is actually voluntary on the Moose's part, being as how she's immobile and all, but she looks pret-ty happy when we put Maddie in her crib with her to play.  Maddie insists on waking Lucy up from her nap, then they play in her crib with stuffed animals for...AT LEAST A HALF AN HOUR!  Do you know what this means?  It means they are contained.  And entertained.  Your average mother of small kids can accomplish the following in 30 minutes: Get dressed, wash face, brush teeth, make 2 beds, clean a bathroom, put away 2 loads of laundry, and gulp down 1/2 cup of coffee before you forget about it and it gets too cold to drink.  Yes, you heard me right.  Not only am I now making beds, I'm also brushing my teeth.  Things are looking up, people.

They hang out on the floor and play with blocks, they're taking a bath together at night, eating together (Maddie eats, while I surreptitiously sneak babyfood into Lucy's mouth, while Lucy stares longingly at Maddie's big girl food), everything!  If I were the kind of mother who would let her 8 month old watch TV now and again (and I AM), I would even admit that they watch the odd sketch from Sesame Street together.  Lucy has started to practice laughing, she makes this forced, cough-like "aHA, aHAHAHA." whenever Maddie is around, so Maddie starts to immitate Lucy, which just makes Lucy do it more.  Luke and I are loving this not just because it really does make our lives a little easier, but also because it's just so fun to watch!   So here are some photos of the girls together this week.

Lucy laughs at Maddie ALL day long.  She is endlessly amused by her, which Maddie finds to be...endlessly amusing.

They sit there just like this FOREVER.

Lucy has seemed so happy this week, like she's finally "in" with the cool kid:)

Yes, I do let my kids chew on Tylenol bottles.  Find me a better teether and I'll happily stop. 

You can see in these how Lucy is always watching Maddie.  Maddie has always loved an audience, so this detail is working particularly well for her.

I love seeing her so happy when she is playing with Maddie!

Maddie being a ham.

Bedtime has become so much easier, now that we can give them a bath together.  The whole process takes a little longer for Maddie, making her night go much more smoothly from event to event (i.e. "dinner, bath, computer with Luke, books, bed"), and making the hardest part of our day (we are all so tired by the time we get to bedtime!) so much more fun.  They are ADORABLE in the bath together.  Lucy just LOVES it, she laughs at Maddie when she splashes and then tries to do it, too.  She also enjoys putting her face in the water. The yellow shovel is her favorite.

I mean, really.  I have secretly been waiting for what feels like FOREVER to get some cute bathtub shots of them together.  I don't know what it is, but Lucy seems to be on more equal footing with Maddie when they are in the tub.  Maddie is great about sharing with her, and Lucy just has this look on her face like, "Yeah, we're just here.  You know.  Hanging out in the tub.  Like big kids." 

So that is our week, a really exciting one for us!  Probably the next post will be about how they've started arguing now that they are spending all of this time together:)

Twick or tweet!

Here it is!  The long-awaited Halloween post.  I have a multitude of excuses as to why this post is so late, but I think most of the blame goes to that most frustrating institution I curse every fall...Daylight Savings Time.  WHO is in charge of such things and WHEN will the madness stop?  There has to be someone I can contact about this.  Lucy wakes up at 5:30am on a good day.  We can count on her waking up at 4:30am at least once or twice a week.  Maddie is sometimes good to "sleep in" until about 6:30, but she's a 5:30 girl herself sometimes, usually on the days Lucy sleeps in until 6.  That's right, it's a pretty sweet set up we have at the Poppish house.  I don't want to make you jealous or anything, but one day a week we each get to sleep in until 7am. 

Anyways, this year Luke and I waited for the time change like we were waiting for a bomb to drop.  We switched the girls' bedrooms Halloween weekend (more on this fascinating little tidbit later, wait for it!), so Lucy was already having a tough time adjusting to the room switch.  Maddie breezed right through the whole transition...until the time change.  That's when it all fell apart.  Sunday morning Lucy woke up at 4:30am, which was really 3:30am...and Maddie, who had been sleeping late since moving into her big girl bed, was right behind her an hour later.  Neither one of them slept until a reasonable hour until Friday morning, when Lucy made it until 6am.  Anyways, I felt like I spent the whole tortured, napless weekend exchanging knowing looks with other parents who were out and about with their own whiny, overtired kids.  Ok, I guess that is the end of my rant.  I just wanted to make sure that the girls are able to look back and see how we suffered.  When is the age where we can sleep in and they can get up by themselves, pour a bowl of Honey Comb cereal, and watch the Smurfs?  Is that coming soon?

OKAY.  So.  Halloween.  It was so great!  It was the first holiday we've had where Maddie really "got it".  She was a riot.  Sue came to visit and help out that weekend, so we were able to take Maddie shopping and let her pick out her costume, and she was so not interested in this.  She didn't really get the whole concept until we were out trick or treating.  Since she is always talking about being a "bootiful pwincess," this is what we opted for.  So, here are the photos of Maddie's big night.

Luke is, for some unknown reason, is firmly opposed to the dressing up of unsuspecting, defenseless babies.  It goes something like, "When she can tell me what she wants to be, she can dress up."  Now, if I really wanted to dress Lucy up, I'm sure I could get past him.  But the thing is, I'm pretty lazy about this stuff, so I just go along with it, roll my eyes at him like it frustrates me, and walk away with my image as "detail-oriented and never lazy mother" fully intact.  Anyways, this will be Moosie's last appearance in this post.  She did pull a super-scary move of her own and projectile vomit all over Grammy while we were out trick or treating with Maddie.  Grammy had to go and answer the door for some kids right after the big event, and we have to tell you, we think the vomit-effect was pretty scary for them.  Way to go Lucy!

Here is a picture of Maddie in the pretty dress Grammy brought her to have her picture taken in.  It's not very Halloween-y, but she looks so pretty I just couldn't leave it out!

Aunt Karyn had to dress up for work at Table 6 that day, and she went super-original and dressed up as a black cat.  Let me put it to you this way.  I'm pretty sure Aunt Karyn made some good tips that day at brunch.  She did what any good Auntie would, and came to go trick-or-treating with us, determined to score Maddie some extra candy, and confident that her cat costume would do the trick.

Meeeeooooow, Aunt Karyn! 

Sue altered Maddie's little costume so it fit her perfectly!  She looked so, so, SO sweet. 

"Daddy, I da pwincess."

She was so excited about her Yo Gabba Gabba candy  bag.  We watched the Yo Gabba Halloween episode, oh, 287 THOUSAND times in the weeks before the big night.

Grammy and Maddie, before Grammy got spooked by Lucy's puking moves.

Pretty Maddie on the front porch, right before our neighbor Mary came out to give her her first candy.  I have no idea whose scantily-clad legs are there behind my sweet, innocent child.

In the car on the way to go trick or treating.  She was SO excited.  It was starting to get dark, and she could not figure out why we were going somewhere instead of going to bed.

As usual, Karyn threw a temper tantrum about being in the back seat.  Get over it, Karyn.  I'm older.  Forever. 

I wish I could explain how amazingly cute she was on the whole trick-or-treating trip.  She was SO happy and blown away by the whole thing.

Maddie, Luke, and Aunt Karyn hit the streets.

Maddie always looks so big to me, first because she just is really tall for her age, but also because she looks big compared to Lucy.  On Halloween night she looked tiny to me.  She was just prancing around in her dress, with candy bag that was as big as she was, with that little midget voice of hers.  It was so great.

Heading up for some candy.

She kept trying to go inside everyone's house.  Like, they would open the door, "Oh, hello little princess" etc. etc., and she's waving the candy bowl out of the way, pushing past them to get in the living room. 

Aunt Karyn working hard to make sure my baby gets that extra Milky Way.

Just before we finished for the night.

Maddie's favorite pumpkin of the night.

What?  Oh my.  Who IS this dark angel? 

Oh, she's a clever minx, this one. 

Careful, Karyn.  This is a family blog.

Maddie was still walking around in her little crown the next night.  Cute as can be in her Halloween jammies.

Happy belated Halloween everyone!  We hope you all had as much fun as we did, and that Daylight Savings Time was easier on you than it was on us!

Mimi's visit to crazyland.

Well she left 2 weeks ago, so this blog is a little late, but we did have such a great visit with Mimi this month!  We think she had a few extra gray hairs by the time she got on the plane, and she left grateful to be alive (on Mimi's last day we went on a field trip to the pumpkin patch with Maddie's little daycare group.  Mimi looked a little "deer in the headlights" by the end of that trip, let me tell you!), but we're also pretty sure she had fun. 

Maddie kept Mimi pretty busy, she had 3 months worth of important things to explain in 3 1/2 short days!  Most of these "conversations" resulted in Mimi looking confused and wondering why Maddie would say "COME ON, are you serious?" everytime she saw an even minor traffic violation take place (Why no, Luke and I do NOT have road rage problems.  Certainly not in front of the children.) or why she was so insistent that "Flies don't hurt you." (Have we mentioned Maddie is afraid of flies?  You know, I'd much rather she was afraid of the tarantulas [see photos of recent trip to Butterfly Pavilion.  This is Uncle Scott's favorite post.], because how often do you see a tarantula?  Have you ever tried to feed lunch to a tired 2 year old and an even more tired 7 month old, only to hear a plaintive "Fwies don't hoooot you" over and over and OVER as your two year old cowers in fear on the couch at the sight of a fly hovering around the window[seriously]?  It.  Is.  Awesome.).

Anyways, the week after Mimi left both girls had a stomach bug, and Luke and I got to experience, for the first time, the magic of that treasured experience all parents have...a kid who vomits (everywhere) about once an hour all night long.  We made it all the way to 2 1/2 years without knowing exactly how many times we were capable of changing a crib sheet in one night (the answer is 3--by the end she was just turning over and vomiting right on the pillow, saving the sheets.  Our Maddie is very neat, even when puking.)  The next day she walked around telling everyone who would listen..."I puke aw ovah da pwace!" while making this expansive hand gesture.  Lucy also did some vomiting, but, well, Lucy is always puking, so we actually didn't realize she was really sick until Maddie got sick and we put two and two together. 

I don't think we have any other major new developments.  Lucy is becoming more of a little person and less of a little baby every day.  This makes things easier when juggling both girls, but it still makes me sad that it is flying by so fast!  She is so good-natured and just goes along with whatever we are doing.  OH!  Luke has been getting her to laugh really, really hard.  Last week at the playground he was pushing both girls on the swing and was the happiest guy around--he had both girls just belly laughing at him for a good 15 minutes.  Once he got going he just couldn't stop, and it was so funny to hear both of their little laughs together. 

So, here are some photos of mom's visit...we have about 2 million photos of the Aquarium, and about 3 photos of other stuff:)

Mimi performing the Heimlich maneuver on Maddie.  What a way to start our trip to the Aquarium!

Maddie graciously explains to Lucy that there are many fish at the Aquarium.

Maddie showing Mimi where the ducks are. 

Pure joy.  God this kid loves the Aquarium.

Having children has aged me.

The Moose was looking pretty sharp in her high tops!

Yeah, I guess they were having a pretty good time.

Moosie and I checked out some fish with Mimi while Maddie and Luke looked at the gross snakes.

She kept looking at me like, "Don't you GET it?  I'm too small to care about this stuff!  But I kept trying.

Mesmerized.

Oh look!  It's the ever so rare Maddiefish! 

Poor Mimi.  I wish I had some photos of her crawling under this bubble thing.  You should have seen the look on her face when she realized that Maddie would not be taking "no" for an answer.

Planet of the Apes.

Moosie is clearly too cool for the Aquarium. 

Maddie touching the rays!

Mimi!  It's 4:30am!  Time to wake up!

No, I do not know why Maddie is playing with a yoga mat.

It's pretty hard to keep Mimi away from Lucy's exersaucer.  Watch your back, Moose.  She's wiley.

Feeding the rays is Luke's department.  I do not find it enjoyable.

Mimi and Lucy on the field trip to the pumpkin patch.

Maddie loves a farm.

Mimi being attacked by 2 year olds.  This is when the whole "deer in the headlights" thing went down.

Whenever I myself am confronted with a petting zoo, I am also struck with the immediate need to dance.  Maddie is clearly my child.

She loved the piggies.  So much so that she let them kiss her hand.  Which I forgot to wash before lunch.  2 guesses who woke up puking at 1am?

A jumping session before lunch.  No problem, Lucy...Maddie is happy to help.

Sweet baby Lucy.

Maybe my favorite pic ever. 

Maddie and Mimi had a puddle jumping session in the alley behind our house.  Maddie, Mimi never did stuff like this with me.  Guess that means she loves you more.  Thanks, mom.

Whenever I tried to put my hands or feet in rain puddles all I got were speeches about ring worm.  In hindsight I really don't understand the connection.

Boy did she have fun with her Mimi.

Thanks for visiting mom!  It was such a  big help!  And, not to out you on your age or anything, but happy 45th birthday!  We love you!