I love the fall, I really do. Apple picking, cider, pumpkins, Halloween and all of the coolness that goes with it. But I don't like September. Never have. Even on the years when there was no "back to school" for me I still have not been won over by this month. Some of my favorite people have been born in September in the realm of sister in law and nieces but I still just can't get into it.
The first few weeks are the hardest. I always feel like I need a "do over" of the summer. It is like a switch is flipped on August 31st and suddenly it's fall, leaves are starting to scatter and the mornings are in the low 50s. How does it happen so fast? I get nostalgic wondering where the 4th of July went and could I have spent any more time at the beach?
It's a bit sad too knowing that each September marks another year closer to Kindergarten for Aimee and eventually Nicole. Unfortunately we're down to one more year. One more year and my little baby will be going to Kindergarten. The public school system, big kids, no more all day mom and kid days (okay well sick days notwithstanding). Sure Nicole will still be with me for a few more years but Aimee is stepping into the big kid section and I just think that life moves too fast. I can't keep up and it's getting to me. I need another month of summer, some more 90 degree days and less school buses on the road. I want a "do over". I want another summer. June was raining and July wasn't a whole lot better. August shaped up nicely. I want a longer August, at least this last summer because really, when next summer rolls around that will really be it and I type this with a mist to my eyes, how will I ever get over it next year?
It's funny. Some things in life you just can't tell people, you really have to experience it on your own. I liken having kids to planning your wedding. You don't really want to listen to people who have been there before you before you have your own. People told me to try to hold on, to remember the little things and I think I have done my lion's share of it. But still, I don't have any more babies, I have little girls. Cute little, dress up wearing, bear hug sharing, light of my life little girls and part of me just can't get over it. The other part still vaguely remembers the sleepless nights of infancy (it's not a far stretch since I still have the world's most terrible sleepers) the breastfeeding and ugh, the pumping. But everything else, it's going too fast. So I am digging in my heels and trying to go slower.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Saturday, August 22, 2009
I see London I see France...someone's wearing underpants
Yes, it's true suddenly and with no pressure or prompting from me, Nicole has decided to make her attempt at potty training. She started with wanting to wear big girl underpants a few weeks ago. A couple of puddles and rug cleanings later and she finally figured out she should pee in the toilet accompanied by the trusty Elmo themed seat. She has a whole routine. She gets her step stool in the bathroom, takes it into the hallway, puts on the light and brings the step stool back to the bathroom and puts in her Elmo seat into the big seat. She then proceeds to get naked. I don't know why this is a necessary step. Aimee needed to do this too, so perhaps it's part of the toddler mindset that naked = peeing in the toilet. Whatever the need, I am not questioning it since it seems to be working.
Our reward of course is M&Ms. I tried a sticker chart with Aimee and she was not impressed so of course I went all out with M&Ms and it worked like a charm. Now Nicole must have had some memory of this or perhaps it was her sisters questions of rewards for deposits in the toilet met with the yummy little treat of chocolate. Whatever the reason, M&Ms are the chosen reward for successful potty trips and my itty bitty Nicole has probably eaten her weight in them the past few days. Because just one M&M is not enough of a reward, we need at least 2 for peeps and 3 for poops. Again, not questioning just going with it.
So we have spent the past two days pretty much home bound. More because the weather has been so gross and humid but it did definately help with the successful potty usage. So much so that when the girls were next door visiting my parents, Nicole even christened their toilets with her little bum. My mother was so impressed she promised to take Nicole shopping tomorrow to pick out her favorite character decorated big girl underpants.
We are still in diapers/pull ups overnight, though this is more my issue because she would wear just her underpants but we have yet to get up in the AM with a dry diaper so I know we are not ready for that step. But in just three days we have made leaps and bounds into the potty training terrain. I will again pull the no help from me card in that I did in no way initiate this potty training but I sure as hell encouraged it when the interest was there. So here's to almost being out of diapers. Another $10 a week I can put in the bank instead of investing in Pampers, Huggies or Luvs. Though I am sure I will find another way of spending it instead of depositing it in the bank.
Our reward of course is M&Ms. I tried a sticker chart with Aimee and she was not impressed so of course I went all out with M&Ms and it worked like a charm. Now Nicole must have had some memory of this or perhaps it was her sisters questions of rewards for deposits in the toilet met with the yummy little treat of chocolate. Whatever the reason, M&Ms are the chosen reward for successful potty trips and my itty bitty Nicole has probably eaten her weight in them the past few days. Because just one M&M is not enough of a reward, we need at least 2 for peeps and 3 for poops. Again, not questioning just going with it.
So we have spent the past two days pretty much home bound. More because the weather has been so gross and humid but it did definately help with the successful potty usage. So much so that when the girls were next door visiting my parents, Nicole even christened their toilets with her little bum. My mother was so impressed she promised to take Nicole shopping tomorrow to pick out her favorite character decorated big girl underpants.
We are still in diapers/pull ups overnight, though this is more my issue because she would wear just her underpants but we have yet to get up in the AM with a dry diaper so I know we are not ready for that step. But in just three days we have made leaps and bounds into the potty training terrain. I will again pull the no help from me card in that I did in no way initiate this potty training but I sure as hell encouraged it when the interest was there. So here's to almost being out of diapers. Another $10 a week I can put in the bank instead of investing in Pampers, Huggies or Luvs. Though I am sure I will find another way of spending it instead of depositing it in the bank.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Bugs, bites and burns...oh my!
Well, it did finally happen. The summer arrived. True, it arrived a bit later than we all expected but maybe it will stick around until later September and give us an extension we've been looking for. Unfortunately with all the rain that came this late spring into early summer we have been dealing with a deluge of bug bites. I have tried to cover every square inch of my girls with a friendly, skintastic OFF! but there still manages to be a few bites here and there.
I was very upset a few weeks ago when from a walk from the house to the car on the way to daycare, I noticed a slight bite on Aimee's right knee. I put some hydro cortisone cream on it and sent her to daycare with some Benedryl just in case. When she arrived home 8 hours later, the little bite was the size of a half dollar, warm to the touch and all around swollen. I called the DR and asked what to do since this was all new to me. Apparently sometimes kids go from having a small reaction to a bigger reaction to bug bites and so long as there was no associated fever (which they said I would have to bring her in for immediately which scared me to death) just to apply the 1% hydro cortisone cream and give Benedryl to reduce the swelling. The poor kid was almost comatose for 24 hours from her every 6 hour dose of Benedryl. But it did work and that little pink liquid is my new best friend.
Also with the summer weather now here we have been to the beach even more than before and we are loving it. The low tide brings the warmer tidal pools that keeps Nicole entertained for house with pruned feet to add to it. She just has a blast sitting in the little pool while I have to shove the amount of germs floating around in the pool out of my mind. Last week however, while applying sunscreen to Aimee, I missed a spot. In my defense it wasn't a spot I had thought about and in future will be sure to get to it. You see after playing in the water, sand and surf, the bathing suit naturally rides up. Despite my efforts to slather that Coppertone SPF 50 in the pink bottle all over them, I missed just a sliver under the bathing suit that gets exposed when a wedgie is created. As an adult I need to remove the wedge ASAP but apparently this does not present itself as a discomfort to 4 year olds. Nicole has a swim diaper that stays in place well and keeps the bathing suit there too. But poor Aimee had a sliver of a burn on her derriere from my rookie mistake. So take note moms, once the kids are potty trained and no longer wearing the swim diapers, apply the sunscreen even to spots under the suit where it could ride up or shift to avoid this unpleasantness.
I was very upset a few weeks ago when from a walk from the house to the car on the way to daycare, I noticed a slight bite on Aimee's right knee. I put some hydro cortisone cream on it and sent her to daycare with some Benedryl just in case. When she arrived home 8 hours later, the little bite was the size of a half dollar, warm to the touch and all around swollen. I called the DR and asked what to do since this was all new to me. Apparently sometimes kids go from having a small reaction to a bigger reaction to bug bites and so long as there was no associated fever (which they said I would have to bring her in for immediately which scared me to death) just to apply the 1% hydro cortisone cream and give Benedryl to reduce the swelling. The poor kid was almost comatose for 24 hours from her every 6 hour dose of Benedryl. But it did work and that little pink liquid is my new best friend.
Also with the summer weather now here we have been to the beach even more than before and we are loving it. The low tide brings the warmer tidal pools that keeps Nicole entertained for house with pruned feet to add to it. She just has a blast sitting in the little pool while I have to shove the amount of germs floating around in the pool out of my mind. Last week however, while applying sunscreen to Aimee, I missed a spot. In my defense it wasn't a spot I had thought about and in future will be sure to get to it. You see after playing in the water, sand and surf, the bathing suit naturally rides up. Despite my efforts to slather that Coppertone SPF 50 in the pink bottle all over them, I missed just a sliver under the bathing suit that gets exposed when a wedgie is created. As an adult I need to remove the wedge ASAP but apparently this does not present itself as a discomfort to 4 year olds. Nicole has a swim diaper that stays in place well and keeps the bathing suit there too. But poor Aimee had a sliver of a burn on her derriere from my rookie mistake. So take note moms, once the kids are potty trained and no longer wearing the swim diapers, apply the sunscreen even to spots under the suit where it could ride up or shift to avoid this unpleasantness.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Sleeping Arrangements
The girls in the family (including me) seem to have developed a nice summer cold complete with sneezing, coughing and post nasal drip at night. I think it may also be a touch of allergies too as many symptoms disappear during the day but come back like gang busters at night. So as with any stage in the life of a child, we are having sleep issues.
First off Aimee. For some reason she just can't fall asleep as easily at night as she once did. She begs me to sit in her chair next to her bed until she falls asleep. I did do this for quite a while but I finally realized that if she wakes up at night in her slumber state does not see me sitting there as I was when she fell asleep, she calls for me at the 2AM hour. So I firmly give the speech of she is a big girl and doesn't need mom sitting next to her at night. The result is a 9PM fall asleep time. She has also recently decided that she no longer wanted her bed rail on. Since she got her big girl twin bed two years ago, she has had this rail to keep her into the bed at night when she would go perpendicular across the bed. But on Sunday night she just looked at me and said "I don't want this rail on it anymore" and that was it. I wasn't sure how we would eventually get rid of it so once again my parenting is more about following her lead than creating one on my own.
Now Nicole has had the post nasal drip cough. And as many of us realize with this cough is that it really only wakes you when you aren't fully asleep. So just about that time in slumber when you roll over to reposition or take a look at the clock, Nicole has started to wake up calling for me. Normally I would let her cry a bit and hope she would settle back down. Sometimes I will go in and check to make sure things are okay. But this latest cry is an all out "I need you cry" so I think that she actually wakes up a while before she starts to call for me and just can't get herself back to sleep. So I go in, take her from her little toddler bed and bring her into our bed. Magically the coughing stops. I don't know if it is from the incline of her head now safely resting on my arm or just the comfort of mommy's bed. But she snuggles in and goes to sleep until it's time to get up. I hate to say it but I don't mind too much. She snuggles and sleeps with me whereas anytime Aimee is in bed with me I get a kick or two that would wake the dead. Nicole on the other hand is so little and petite that she just burrows next to me and gives me a big smile, closes her eyes and sighs off to dreamland.
Next up, a new house. We are moving on September 5th to a new house and I am not sure how our arrangements are going to change. We are going to have 4 bedrooms and the master bedroom is a suite that is a bit of a walk from their rooms. So I am already having some angst about how to prepare them for the move, how the first few nights in a new house and bedroom will be. And I am already brushing away a few tears knowing that we are leaving a house so full of memories from my own childhood as well as from the first few years of their lives. Plus we're moving away from Nana and Papa. Granted we're only moving a mile and a half away and in doing so, we are allowing our favorite aunt and uncle (my brother and his wife also known as Freddy and Tee Tee) to move out of their current apartment and into this house to create their own memories and live next to Nana and Papa and hopefully have some kids of their own.
More sleeping arrangements to come....
First off Aimee. For some reason she just can't fall asleep as easily at night as she once did. She begs me to sit in her chair next to her bed until she falls asleep. I did do this for quite a while but I finally realized that if she wakes up at night in her slumber state does not see me sitting there as I was when she fell asleep, she calls for me at the 2AM hour. So I firmly give the speech of she is a big girl and doesn't need mom sitting next to her at night. The result is a 9PM fall asleep time. She has also recently decided that she no longer wanted her bed rail on. Since she got her big girl twin bed two years ago, she has had this rail to keep her into the bed at night when she would go perpendicular across the bed. But on Sunday night she just looked at me and said "I don't want this rail on it anymore" and that was it. I wasn't sure how we would eventually get rid of it so once again my parenting is more about following her lead than creating one on my own.
Now Nicole has had the post nasal drip cough. And as many of us realize with this cough is that it really only wakes you when you aren't fully asleep. So just about that time in slumber when you roll over to reposition or take a look at the clock, Nicole has started to wake up calling for me. Normally I would let her cry a bit and hope she would settle back down. Sometimes I will go in and check to make sure things are okay. But this latest cry is an all out "I need you cry" so I think that she actually wakes up a while before she starts to call for me and just can't get herself back to sleep. So I go in, take her from her little toddler bed and bring her into our bed. Magically the coughing stops. I don't know if it is from the incline of her head now safely resting on my arm or just the comfort of mommy's bed. But she snuggles in and goes to sleep until it's time to get up. I hate to say it but I don't mind too much. She snuggles and sleeps with me whereas anytime Aimee is in bed with me I get a kick or two that would wake the dead. Nicole on the other hand is so little and petite that she just burrows next to me and gives me a big smile, closes her eyes and sighs off to dreamland.
Next up, a new house. We are moving on September 5th to a new house and I am not sure how our arrangements are going to change. We are going to have 4 bedrooms and the master bedroom is a suite that is a bit of a walk from their rooms. So I am already having some angst about how to prepare them for the move, how the first few nights in a new house and bedroom will be. And I am already brushing away a few tears knowing that we are leaving a house so full of memories from my own childhood as well as from the first few years of their lives. Plus we're moving away from Nana and Papa. Granted we're only moving a mile and a half away and in doing so, we are allowing our favorite aunt and uncle (my brother and his wife also known as Freddy and Tee Tee) to move out of their current apartment and into this house to create their own memories and live next to Nana and Papa and hopefully have some kids of their own.
More sleeping arrangements to come....
Thursday, August 6, 2009
In the blink of an eye
I know, it's been a while since I posted here last. I have been enjoying the wonderful summer weather with the girls and trying to unplug at night and do captivating things like read. Gasp! Work has also been crazy busy too and my usual 24 hours have been bumped up to 30 hours at least each week as I try to navigate my way through a very large project.
In amongst all the summer and work activities, a little thing happened right around July 26th. My "baby" turned 4. I can't believe it, 4 already. I have memories in my life from when I was 4, so it's crazy to me that we are doing things now that she will remember for a lifetime. Also amazing to me is the fact that just about 4 years ago I was sitting on the couch with a newborn baby on my lap, nursing away. That little baby looked like this:
And now I have a 4 year old that loves to talk endlessly to me every day. She ponders the big questions like "do I have to take a school bus to kindergarten?" and she loves with more of her being than I would have thought a little girl could. Here she is from a recent trip to the beach.
I can still see traces of that little baby in her smiling face here. Happy birthday little girl. A little bit late but you will realize that we Schaffers do things on our own standard of time. I love you!
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
I can see clearly now...
Has is really been that long since I posted? My goodness time has been a flying lately. We made it through the rain and it's been nice to actually have some time outside. I hate to be one to complain about weather, really I do since I love living in New England and it's worth it to have all the changes in the season. But really, one more day of rain and low 60's temperatures and I was going to have to look into some seasonal disorder therapy.
I have been trying lately to be more "unplugged" too. I find that I have a desire to check e-mail 24/7 and keep up with all of my Internet friends endlessly. Facebook in and of itself while it has been an awesome tool for keeping up with long lost friends would easily suck 3 hours out of my night in the blink of an eye. So I have been (gasp!) reading again at night after supper and not even watching TV. It's been good to finally get to read some recommendations different friends have given me.
I have to admit that I have been loving the weather lately too. I do of course love the dog days of summer but give me 70's during the day and low 60's at night to sleep and it's the best combination that I could hope for.
The girls were really at the ends of their proverbial ropes too. It made my parenting so much more challenging than it usually is and took my voice a few octaves and decibels higher than it usually is. Listening was just not in the cards for the girls and trying to find activities that were not already over laden with kids and parents trying to do the same weather avoidance activities really was tough. We had lots of playdates, stomping in the rain, storytimes and visits to the mall with our Nana. Sometimes there was the occasional (okay everyday) temper tantrum from Nicole who really is starting to show just how terrible 2 can be. We have also abandoned naps recently too for my little 'Colie (as Aimee calls her) and it's been great for going to bed no sweat but not so great for the hour between supper and bed. Time out was a regular occurrence.
And then, the sun came out. The moods improved and it seemed as though everything literally fell into place for the summer. We have been to the beach, played a ton in the yard, taken walks up the hill next to our house and pulled out just about every bright colored massive plastic toy from the garage that we own. It's been heaven.
Fingers crossed that it keeps up because lately it has just been too good to be true! And loyal reader(s) I promise to check in more frequently because I know you all love keeping up with us Schaffer family as any other newsworthy Internet reading out there!
I have been trying lately to be more "unplugged" too. I find that I have a desire to check e-mail 24/7 and keep up with all of my Internet friends endlessly. Facebook in and of itself while it has been an awesome tool for keeping up with long lost friends would easily suck 3 hours out of my night in the blink of an eye. So I have been (gasp!) reading again at night after supper and not even watching TV. It's been good to finally get to read some recommendations different friends have given me.
I have to admit that I have been loving the weather lately too. I do of course love the dog days of summer but give me 70's during the day and low 60's at night to sleep and it's the best combination that I could hope for.
The girls were really at the ends of their proverbial ropes too. It made my parenting so much more challenging than it usually is and took my voice a few octaves and decibels higher than it usually is. Listening was just not in the cards for the girls and trying to find activities that were not already over laden with kids and parents trying to do the same weather avoidance activities really was tough. We had lots of playdates, stomping in the rain, storytimes and visits to the mall with our Nana. Sometimes there was the occasional (okay everyday) temper tantrum from Nicole who really is starting to show just how terrible 2 can be. We have also abandoned naps recently too for my little 'Colie (as Aimee calls her) and it's been great for going to bed no sweat but not so great for the hour between supper and bed. Time out was a regular occurrence.
And then, the sun came out. The moods improved and it seemed as though everything literally fell into place for the summer. We have been to the beach, played a ton in the yard, taken walks up the hill next to our house and pulled out just about every bright colored massive plastic toy from the garage that we own. It's been heaven.
Fingers crossed that it keeps up because lately it has just been too good to be true! And loyal reader(s) I promise to check in more frequently because I know you all love keeping up with us Schaffer family as any other newsworthy Internet reading out there!
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Tiny Dancer
It was an exciting school year for us. Aimee started preschool and went to a nursery school down the street from us. I may have mentioned that it is the same one I went to a million years ago. Okay, not really a million, but over 30 anyway. She loved it and it was such a proud time for Gary and I as parents to see her grow and flourish. From day one when she knew no one else in the class to the middle of the year when she could tell me all of the kids in the class. She learned to write her name and never was I more sure of her name when she mastered it two "e's" and all. We get it backwards every once in a while but for the most part she can tell when she has done it backwards and when it is correct. Sometimes I wonder if she does it just to test me. School ended last week and she will be headed to pre-K in the fall.
She also kept very busy with her extracurricular activities which this year included dancing. It was here in dancing that she learned her left and her right. Her dancing teacher, a sweetheart of a woman named Katelyn taught them that "Lenny" is left and "Ralph" is right. I know this will be one of the things that Aimee will never forget how she learned. I took dancing once upon a time, I even have a picture of me from my first recital when I was her age. I was never a serious dancer and gave it up in about the 5th or 6th grade, but still it was something to get her into and she loved it. Every Friday at 4PM, Nicole and I would bring Aimee in her leotard and tights with dancing shoes and drop her off (another first) for a full hour of ballet, tap and acrobats. Nicole so wanted to go in each week and dance with her, but the school rules state that all dancers must be at least 3 to start so she still has another year before she can don the leotard and tights.
But like everything else in the school year now that June has arrived, dancing has ended but before it did, we had a recital. Now, when I spend all day with the kids, they do get out of control and I feel as though my day is spent more as referee rather than mother. They act out at me and each other and I sometimes forget that they are still just so little. Never was this more apparent than when I saw my baby on stage in her little tu-tu and hair pulled back tight looking so grown up but still so small. It was all I could do not to cry like a baby seeing her coming out onto the stage. I will admit to shedding a tear but at least I didn't bawl which was my first instinct.
I know that the lyrics don't quite match the post but my little ballerina and the picture of her here will always be with me, my tiny dancer.
She also kept very busy with her extracurricular activities which this year included dancing. It was here in dancing that she learned her left and her right. Her dancing teacher, a sweetheart of a woman named Katelyn taught them that "Lenny" is left and "Ralph" is right. I know this will be one of the things that Aimee will never forget how she learned. I took dancing once upon a time, I even have a picture of me from my first recital when I was her age. I was never a serious dancer and gave it up in about the 5th or 6th grade, but still it was something to get her into and she loved it. Every Friday at 4PM, Nicole and I would bring Aimee in her leotard and tights with dancing shoes and drop her off (another first) for a full hour of ballet, tap and acrobats. Nicole so wanted to go in each week and dance with her, but the school rules state that all dancers must be at least 3 to start so she still has another year before she can don the leotard and tights.
But like everything else in the school year now that June has arrived, dancing has ended but before it did, we had a recital. Now, when I spend all day with the kids, they do get out of control and I feel as though my day is spent more as referee rather than mother. They act out at me and each other and I sometimes forget that they are still just so little. Never was this more apparent than when I saw my baby on stage in her little tu-tu and hair pulled back tight looking so grown up but still so small. It was all I could do not to cry like a baby seeing her coming out onto the stage. I will admit to shedding a tear but at least I didn't bawl which was my first instinct.
I know that the lyrics don't quite match the post but my little ballerina and the picture of her here will always be with me, my tiny dancer.
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