Olivia's first ballet class!

We signed Olivia up for a ballet class at her urging, and today was the first day. The eight sweet girls in her class could not have been cuter, and Olivia could not have been more excited! We have had the day circled on the calendar for weeks, and she was thrilled to get to go this morning. This was a "big girl" class, so the parents waited outside but could see the class through a two-way mirror. Olivia did great and had a wonderful time! I am looking forward to more fun ballet days!!

What else we've been doing for the past month

When we weren't sick, or sometimes when we were but had to get out of the house, we did a little bit of this and that....

We found new playgrounds...This one is at the Northport Civic Center, and was super fun one afternoon right before a rainstorm. Olivia even made it half way across the monkey bars!

We took lots of rides in the wagon to the playground, and sometimes ended up in the pool! I've learned to throw in their swim suits even when I think we won't go!

We washed the truck, had the alternator fixed, and got a new battery, so it is running again, per our HOA request. (Jerks!) Olivia was a great "helper"! At least she had a great time and looked cute doing it!

We had lots of pretend playtime... I can't even remember what was being said here! Surely something sassy!

We started a toy tub exchange with a group of moms I know. (We trade a tub of toys with for a couple of weeks and then continue to pass along with new toys. This is great since we have so many toys that the kids have stopped playing with, but will once they are gone for a while. When we got our toys back after two weeks, they were "new" again! And we had a ball playing with other kids' toys! We have a new tub now and exchanged other toys, too.)

More new playgrounds. This is a great one right by the Northport Airport!

I finally got the kids' thank-you gifts for their teachers made. I attached kids' art and thank you notes, and they looked super cute. Thanks Heidi for the recipe!! I totally was off my A-game in May due to Nicholas's surgery.

Olivia and Leo continue to play together super well! Olivia has learned how to climb up the "stairs" in the back of the big slide at our neighborhood playground, and Leo can do the little one by himself, so I can just sit back and take pictures! Heavenly!

And they play in Leo's crib. They bounce, they laugh, they pretend to be kitty cats and pretend to sleep!

And they play in Olivia's big girl bed, giggling and laughing! Olivia is Rupunzel here! This is when the bed was still in the office, where it has been for a year waiting for Olivia to be ready.

Two Mondays ago, Nicholas's REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates--funded by the National Science Foundation--we are proud of you, honey!) students came over for the second BBQ of the summer. Nicholas warned them that we were sick, but they still wanted to come and (1) see the kids and (2) hear Nicholas's record player! I didn't get pictures while they were here, but here is a picture of them Nicholas took of them outside his building. Olivia LOVED the girls, and Leo loved listening to and dancing to the music (mostly Red Hot Chili Peppers) with the boys!

And Olivia learned to wash records and helped Nicholas wash his one new one! She had seen him wash the records that his students brought before he played them, and wanted to help!

Olivia and I also did some bead work while Leo was napping one day. She loved it, and could do it herself! She is getting so grown up!

And, of course, Olivia is a little mommy who thinks she can handle anything. The other day she told me, "Mommy, when I grow up, I can put Leo down for a nap for you. Then you can just go to sleep!" This is when I was sick and I was thinking that sounded pretty good! 

Lately Leo has been showing some potty training readiness signs. He tells me when he needs to go to the bathroom. I haven't actually got him to go on the little potty yet, but he tells me when he needs to poop, does it, and tells me again so I can change his diaper. He's also been saying, "I go tee-tee!" when he needs to pee. (Yes, it's strange. People in the South say "tee-tee" so that is what Olivia says, thus that is what I say.) Anyway, the other day when Leo said he needed to go, Olivia said, "I'll take care of it, Mommy. You just leave us alone!" So, I did. Here is the result:

No, Leo did not go, but he is getting some good "practice!"

And I want to brag on these two for playing by themselves for minutes at a time, and for their love of reading. Olivia and Leo request books a lot. This tickles me out of Leo, and I would love to get a picture of them both reading in the living room on their own. Someday! It seems that when I enter the area, the "reading" stops and they want me to read to them. 

Olivia has been building some pretty cool "towers" of dominoes lately. I am pretty impressed as I cannot do this! They are tricky little pieces!

We finally got the big girl bed into Olivia's room two Sundays ago, and she hasn't slept in her toddler bed since! We kept it in her room just in case, but plan to move it to the attic this weekend, and move her kitchen set back where it was. Both my babies just keep growing up!! (The secret is that they just keep getting more fun, too!) We've had lots of fun pretend games in here--showing horses and putting them back in the stable is the latest favorite!

And, sweet Leo, is growing up, too! He is starting to call out in the morning saying, "Mommy! Daddy! I get up!" He says, "Puffs! Pease!!!" when he wants yogurt puffs. He is repeating A LOT! Olivia got him to say "purple" today and it actually sounded like it. He says Olivia's name like "Livia." And we put away the high chair today and just set up the booster seat for him. He loves it!

Swim Lessons (Olivia, take two)

You'll remember that we started swim lesson for Olivia the third week in June, but only went for one class because it was kind of a disaster. I blogged about it in this post. We started again on July 22 for a two week class, and this time went great! I told Olivia the rule was that parents could only sit on the side of the pool in the chairs and not be near the kids. We lucked out in that there were only two kids in Olivia's group--her and one other little girl who was four, but about Olivia's size. The pool area was a lot quieter, too, so that helped. Olivia kind of looked like she might cry for the first five minutes of the first day, but I kept smiling and giving her thumbs up signs, and she seemed to loosen up and get excited. She really liked her teacher, Justin, and liked the little games they played to 1) blow bubbles under the water, 2) kick, 3) float on their backs in a starfish pattern, 4) put their faces in the water, 5) use their "ice cream scoop" hands to paddle. 

This is what Leo was doing while Olivia was taking swim lessons:

Unfortunately, Leo got sick on the day of the fourth lesson, so we skipped that day. Then we all got sick, and we are still sick. I kept thinking it was going to get better this week, but I am still dragging badly and last night Olivia woke with ear pain for the first time. Today, fortunately, our pediatrician had office hours. Olivia has a double ear infection 11 days after the first cold symptoms. Leo is still sick, too. They are both on antibiotics, as am I. I really, really hope Nicholas doesn't get it, as he has been holding us all together. He stayed with Olivia on Tuesday while I took a nap that morning. That was my worst day. Wednesday wasn't much better, but I decided that day to "be better." So, I overdid it. But, I didn't push Olivia back to swim lessons because she felt terrible. She felt a bit better Thursday, but we didn't go back then, either, because she had had a fever within 24 hours. We'll go back next year, and until then, practice what she has learned!

At last!! My nursing saga is finished!

Dear Diary,

Last weekend Nicholas watched the kids for a bit more than 24 hours so that I could go to Atlanta to spend a night away with my friend Juliet just us...with no kids! Even the drive was relaxing as I got to listen to a book on tape and drive Nicholas's Camry instead of the van! Juliet and I went to IKEA, ate dinner there, chatted a lot, and slept through the night without the sound of crying children! It was awesome! We probably got more talk time in during those hours together than the previous five years! I miss you, Juliet! I wish we lived closer!

Now I will try to stop ending each sentence with an exclamation point.

This trip came at a perfect time, too, because I have been trying to wean Leo from nursing since he was 12 months old. I tried the "don't ask, don't refuse" method. He almost always requested. I tried taking away a feeding at a time and got down to two feedings a day several times, but each time he got sick and we would inch our way back up to three or four feedings a day. Add in trips and poor sleep and a tired mama, and I just wasn't getting anywhere. So, I decided that when I left Saturday morning, that was going to be my last feeding and I was going to stop nursing Leo cold turkey. (Well, I would still pump as little as possible just so I wasn't in total pain.)

Saturday went great!! Nicholas texted me lots of cute pictures of the kids playing. They had Easter Egg hunts, he introduced them to The Sound of Music and they loved the children and the music, and they even did great at bedtime! (Thank you, Nicholas for being a wonderful husband who is willing to watch two kids solo so I can get a break!) But at two AM, Leo woke up and did not go back to sleep except for about sixty minutes between then an 7:30. I got home around 11 and could not get Leo to take a nap. Finally at one o'clock I loaded the kids in the car, swallowed my pride, and tried driving to get Leo to nap. It took 72 minutes of driving and then he only slept for 40 minutes. I almost gave up that day and nursed him. But I hung in there, called my mom for a pep talk, and we got through the night, too, with a bottle of breast milk. Leo is taking a bottle a little now, but that is okay since he doesn't take a paci and we can't have one in the house since Olivia gave up her's in June. (I know! That is another story. Close friends, family, and loyal readers may remember my plan to get rid of Olivia's paci by the time she was 6 months.  We finally got down to one paci and when she wanted the toy I had bought one of her friends for her birthday, I made a trade. Olivia regretted it later, but we fought our way through for about seven weeks. She hasn't asked for one in the past few days, and I hope that is over!)

Some pictures that Nicholas texted me on Saturday of our silly kids!

--eating cinnamon rolls

--pretending to be a person with a cane

--getting some "work" done

--staying occupied!

So, my nursing saga is finally finished. I thought I would be more emotional about it or cry on the last time, but I was just done! My goal had been six months given that I only made it one month with Olivia (due to lots of things...not the least of which was jaundice, she was a terrible sucker, I never made enough milk for her, and then she had a cow's milk allergy), so I never would have dreamed that I would have made it so long with Leo. This just teaches me that every child is different and that different things work for different people. Honestly, in another situation, I probably wouldn't do it this long again! But, I'm glad for the bonding time with Leo given that he has had to share everything with Olivia since birth. At least we had some very special time together that didn't involve big sister. (She is so glad I am finished, as she was jealous of that time.) Now I try to give them both extra cuddles and love! Leo is rarely asking to nurse now, but is enjoying being snuggled before bed by Daddy!!

My mom said one time that some of the happiest days of her life were the days she started nursing her children and those when she stopped. I can see that!

- Christine

Happy TEN Years to us!!

I usually don't post about Nicholas's and my dates, our trials, our triumphs, or our anniversaries. My thinking is that those things are between us and Nicholas is a private person. My family of origin never made a big deal of anniversaries, perhaps for obvious reasons. When I married Nicholas, his family (parents and grandparents) sent us cards on our anniversary, and I was surprised. But through the years, I realize what an important thing it is to really celebrate our anniversary--between the two of us, with our extended families, and with our kids because our anniversary really is the anniversary of our family beginning. And each year is something to be proud of, something to reflect on, something to remember. And it is something amazing and worthy of celebration.

Since we knew we wouldn't have a babysitter on July 4th due to our travels, we treated ourselves to a six hour date at the end of June. We had our favorite babysitter Caroline watch the kids while we did a matinee and then dinner at our favorite restaurant Evangeline's. Nicholas still didn't have leave to chew yet, but I had called ahead and they had dishes that could accomodate him. We had a really nice time, as we always do on our monthly date nights. I feel young to be out with Nicholas without the kids, and the amount of talking we get in without Olivia chatting us up is enormous!

We celebrated on the Fourth with Nicholas's extended family, and received cards and even some water bottles made of tin since that is the traditional ten-year gift.

I debated whether or not to post on Facebook, but I did eventually post:

 Ten years, four graduate degrees, one house, two babies, and one tenure promotion later, I love our perfectly imperfect life! Happy 10th Anniversary!

And I do! It feels like forever and it feels like yesterday that Nicholas and I said our vows and made this commitment to each other. Through ups and downs, unbelievably joyous wonders and heartbreaking moments, I'm so glad to be going through life with you, Nicholas.

On our anniversary date, Nicholas was already looking forward to the next ten years and what they will bring. I feel like we have packed so much into the first ten that just fostering what we have created so far will be enough. But, of course, there will be so much more, and I am excited to be meeting it together!