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Ella does it all at our house! It started out when I told Rachel that Ella gave her the shirt and shorts that she was wearing… then I started telling her that Ella uses the big potty… and Ella brushes her teeth, and Ella obeys…. and Ella goes to bed on time… Ella does everything we do, just better! Now Rachel will ask “is this Ella’s toothbrsh”, or in her words “Ella’s?”, or “is this Ella’s shirt, or when we are getting potty stickers “Ella’s?”

It works like a charm Ella! I hope that you can live up to our expectations!

We went to Anika’s birthday party today. She’s a beautiful little two year old with a gorgeous smile and marvelous birthday dress with butterflies. We had a great time with all of the kids and toys and food… not to mention the cupcake with tons of frosting!

Rachel is almost two. I can’t believe my little darling is growing so quick. She is just darling though. She plays and laughs and spouts with joy all over the place. She’s a dare devil too. The bouncy thing at the party was nothing in comparison to our recent visit to Planet Bounce where Rachel took on the biggest slide in the place. The first time down, she looked back at me for reassurance about every two steps, but when she got to the top, she just flew down the huge yellow slide. Every step to the top I was questioning if I should even allow her to go down, it looked kind of steep for her size. Well she toppled a little forward and onto her nose and looked startled at what just happened. Nope, she didn’t want to do it again. I gave her a high five and a big hug and a “you did it” and we moved on to other, easier, bouncing. Well, once her friend Reagan showed up they both decided it was time to do the slide. Rachel was fearless this time, and went down that huge slide countless times! She’s so brave and strong and athletic! I just adore my little Rachel!

So here’s my life… my nose is running, so much that I’m putting Rachel and Hannah to bed (tonight is basketball for Sean Jr, so no help at bedtime for us), and I’m bathing Rachel and doing the routine with a piece of tissue stuck inside of my nose. And my little girl is screaming “out - out” as she herself wipes snot from ear to ear, and that little sore crusty piece of skin on her nose just gets a little worse.

But tonight she did drink her milk before bed, first time in a few days since we got sick this weekend. Yay, last weekend DH had food posioning, and this weekend we all have a lot of snot!

Could be worse right… well now I figured out how to get the baby to stop crying mostly by giving hr expressed breastmilk mixed with rice cereal a few times a day. Yes, I know it’s junk food, and she hasn’t pooped in days, but she does actually stop crying, and for my sanity and everyone around me, we need that.

I finally put some underwear in the washer, we are out… hopefully I can get it to the dryer before the wet clothes start to smell.

My mom has been coming over, she mostly discusses coffee, food, dinner, all my problems, and then, bless her, does my pile of dishes, sheepishly sweeps the floor, then falls asleep with Hannah in the easy chair.

The worst part is that I was looking forward to going to the beach, and other playdates with my mom’s group, because I desperately need to get out. Oh well.

I did start drinking again when the cousins came on Friday. They are in their 60’s, married, but no children. They travel the world, scuba, bed and breakfasts, europe, switzerland, and all sorts of places I’ll probably never go because I’m rocking a colicaly baby and convincing my almost two year old that she has had enough “ne-ne” and time to go to sleep!

I am trying to get back into my groove. My live is really great. I wouldn’t trade it for my cousins life, or anyone elses for that matter. My girls are beautiful, and my dh is my darling.

My poor little angel is suffering from reflux. After she was born, all she did was sleep, then, about week three, she started to cry, and cry and cry. She literally has had no happy awake time. My poor baby! I have tried rocking, swaddling, outside walking, inside bouncing, lavender aromatherapy and soundscape music, leaving her by herself with low stimulation, bringing her into a busy noisy room. I’ve even sat in the dark in the bathroom trying to get her to settle. I’ve pumped off the skim milk, tried frequent feedings, feeding upright, feeding lying down, angled… nothing worked. In the evening it has been the worst, she is just so uncomfortable, and screaming and balling up her fists and raking her little nails across her cheeks. I just curl up with her and hold her tight while she cries.

So the doc says try rice cereal and this prescription for Zantac. Now this is mostly working, but now she is constipated from the cereal with iron, and the gets a little drunk from the Zantac and just immediately nods off. I’m experimenting with a combination of this that will work for her.

Meanwhile, the dishes have piled up and I can’t get rid of the fruit flies. Neither my dh or I have any clean underwear. And that is saying something, since we both own about 20 pairs of drawers.

Nana comes over to clean and help with the girls, but she’s not exactly getting paid, so she frequently naps and eats on the job! (we’re ever so thankful for your help though Nana.)

It’s so cliche, but I do try to remember…. this too will pass!

My first born is learning new words all the time. The doctor asked me at her well-visit (which was a couple months past her scheduled 18 month birthday), how many words does she say? I said 500, and he laughed! “I’ll put down 10+ for now”.

Her little brain is just spilling over with new info all the time. It’s adorable. Although 500 is too many to list, some of her favorites are: up, down, done, gone, all gone, rock, knock, kick, bath, bubbles, bottle, baby, Hannah, Nana, Mom, Dada, yes she even says Sean, tv, dvd, egg, spoon, milk, swing, water, and the list just goes on! She’s even added a demanding possessive to her vocabulary. Exclaiming “Dada’s” as she hands dad his wallet while he’s trying to catnap.

My favorite word that she says probably 100 times a day is YES! She will answer affirmative to most questions, especially if you hit upon what is truely going on. We were climbing up the stairs for the lunch time nap, and mommy’s much needed solice, and her hair was sticky. Now we just climbed out of the downstairs bath together, so what is this stickyness… I guess, is it soap in your hair? is it a sticky lollypop (or just “pop” to her)? is it daddy’s gel? such a familiar smell… then it came to me…  is it lip gloss? and YES!!! she replied. So darn cute, I almost forgot about the mess that was waiting for me on the bathroom floor where I now remember she had gotten a hold of my lipgloss while I was tied to the milk pump. At least it smells good, right?