Pics from today are of Alice's meet and greet at the preschool. Not
that I had any doubts, but she certainly will have no issue going to
school on Wednesday. Izzy had a fabulous time playing with the big
kids and, of course, all of the toys! She looked ready for preschool
when she sat down to "read" a book!
More pics from today are of cousin Sammy's 2nd birthday party. We all
had a great time at Pat and Marcie's beautiful house! There was lots
of good food and good fun had by all, including a nearly
indistructable piñata! Not bad for a buck, eh Ma? We all had so much
fun that I can pretty much guarentee that we will all sleep well
tonight!
I must go to bed. Tomorrow Alice, Ann, and I are heading into Chicago
for another bridal shower for Mary. It should be good times, so long
as we don't get lost!
The girls adore their auntie so of course they were well behaived,
though they weren't keen on the idea of eating. Hopefully Iz doesn't
wake up in the middle of the night hungry. Ann had quite the time
attempting to get Izzy out of her chair and she made the mistake of
asking a 3 year old how to do it. In your defense, Ann, there are a
ton of buttons on that chair!
Now I sit here watching some NewsRadio listening to Izzy fight sleep
for God knows what reason and I'm hoping she goes to sleep soon
because we have a busy day tomorrow!
- Alice has regressed in the potty trained department. Since the Tug
she's wet the bed a handful of times and I'm not sure why. Maybe it's
school related, maybe it's nothing. Either way she's wearing pull-ups
to bed until further notice. :-/
- Preschool orientation is tomorrow night!! I can't believe summer is
already over and my baby is almost a preschooler!
- Izzy is obsessed with the stepstool. Ever since I brought it out for
her climb up on to the couch (little Miss Independant) she's been
carting it all over the house. This evening she took it into her room,
then came out to get me saying "Hawp? Hawp?" in that cute little tone
that she gets. Well she wanted me to help her get Bun-Bun out of her
crib because she couldn't quite reach, even with the stool. She's so
freaking cute!
- Matt starts gradschool on the 8th. I pray that we all survive the
transition. I have a feeling it's going to be hard on all of us, but
definitely worth it in the end.
- We have quite the busy schedule this weekend. Wedding shower in
Chicago, Sammy's bday party, wedding tea party for Mary with the kids,
and a play day where Alice gets to meet her classmates. Whew! But I'm
looking forward to it!
Maybe it was the room full of toys, maybe it was the police car chair
she sat in, or maybe it was the fact that she got to pick out a DVD to
watch while she got beautified (she chose Wonderpets - her current
fav), whatever it was she didn't protest AT ALL! And mommy spoiled
her a bit and bought her her first set of Silly Bands (so she could be
like Amanda) and I bought her a watch.
Now I just need to teach her how to tell time.
This was Izzy's third or fourth attempt at eating at the picnic table
with her sister. She ate well, but she got up every minute or two -
she just couldn't sit still. Iz is definitely very ready to be a big
girl, she just needs some practice. It'll be so nice to get that
highchair put away!
Today was quite an exhausting one for all. Matt went to work super
early on just a few hours of sleep. And the girls and I spent all
afternoon (and part of the morning) on the go getting groceries at 4
different stores. We typically only go to one store, maybe two, so I
spent a lot of time looking at what places had to offer and crunching
numbers. Here are sone highlights of my day.
- No store I visited carried little granny shopping carts. I was
hoping to get one to make lugging the groceries up our rediculous
stairs easier (a task Matt usually handles).
- I didn't seem to have any issue finding parking near the door. I
did, however, have issues with parking. Must work on that.
- We ended up stopping to eat before heading to the main store. It's
only a 5 minute car ride away, yet Izzy managed to fall asleep on the
way there. This was point number one where I almost just gave up and
went home.
- I was "that" mom today when I pushed my cart to one side and looked
for something on the other side, not paying much attention to the cart
for a few seconds. Well I forgot to buckle Izzy in and she was
STANDING in the front child seat. A woman behind us was yelling at her
to sit when I finally noticed. I felt like SUCH an ass. Thank God for
crowded aisles on a Saturday afternoon.
- RIGHT after that, Alice declared that she had to go poo poo. Great.
Not only had she already declared this before and attempted a bathroom
run before without any luck, but we were all the way at the back of
the store. The restrooms are at the front. Luckily I hadn't put any
perishables in my cart yet, so I high-tailed it to the front. Once ww
got in there, let's just say I was ready to leave and attempt grocery
shopping another day. I didn't, but let me tell you I sure wanted to.
- We finally get home and now I'm faced with the tax of carting the
groceries up our dreadful stairs. I leave Iz and Alice upstairs while
I go to make my 3 or 4 trips to the car. Alice couldn't care less, but
sleepy little Izzy was screaming so terribly I actually though she had
really hurt herself my first trip upstairs. Needless to say she went
right to bed for a nap once I got everything upstairs. I didn't even
wait until I got it all put away first.
So that, in a nutshell, was my day. The moral of the story is, never
go shopping on a Saturday - ever! Hopefully next time is much easier.
The plus side - I finally found a large, non-finicky set of dry
measuring cups! That find actually made all of today worry it. You
don't know how long I've searched!
We bought it from a Honda dealership, and can I just say the place was
quite swanky. The kids playroom wasn't a filthy disaster (though I'm
sure none of the toys had batteries on purpose). The waiting area for
when you bring your car in for maintenance was unreal! Cooshy chairs,
TVs, media centers, food, and a case full of LAPTOPS that anyone could
use. The best part was that their bathroom was not only very nice, but
also the cleanest bathroom I've ever been in. I didn't mind having to
spend 3+ hours at this place!
Oh, and everyone was super nice too. No complaints whatsoever from me!
2) It also helps that Izzy very cutely sings along (in tune, I might
add) with one of their songs.
3) Cross your fingers that we're getting a new car this week. Matt is
pretty sold on the Nissan Versa - now we just need to shop around and
find a good used one and see about financing it. I will be a free
woman soon!
4) So far I've been out driving by myself twice now. Gotta say, I
don't know why it took me so long. Cross your fingers for me that
Chicagoland drivers don't kill me for going the speed limit.
5) Alice starts school in two weeks - yes TWO WEEKS! I'm not even
slightly sad about it. Her Father, on the other hand…
6) I still haven't started Alice's dress. I think I'm more concerned
that I'm gonna suck at it than I thought. My hope is to get it done by
the time she starts school. If it turns out nice I may just have her
wear it for her first day of school!
7) If not I'll proudly display it at the back of her closet.
8) I'm still dealing with bug bites from hell from The Tug. Oh I
haven't talked about The Tug yet? Someday I'll get around to it.
9) Alice and I have been having much better days lately. Honestly, I
think the problem was as much me as it was her. I've put in a huge
effort to be more patient with her and to walk away and calm down
instead of losing my cool and it's made for a MUCH more enjoyable
week. Time will tell, but hopefully this was the solution.
10) We got a survey from Days Inn about our stay this weekend. I had
to laugh because I was absolutely going to contact corporate about the
rediculousness that was that hotel and now I don't have to. Nah, I
will most definitely still be writing a complaint letter to make
absolute sure they are aware of the problems with this particular hotel.
It wasn't exactly Bates Motel bad, but it was bad enough that
corporate should know what their name is being affiliated with. It was
gross and had HORRID food just like any other place, but the big thing
that got me was that our door did not latch. And when we told
management upon check out their response, "oh yeah, we know." Uh,
what?! Needless to say Matt and I have already decided we will not
stay there again next year. Even if we end up paying twice as much to
stay at The Holiday Inn that we usually stay at.
Just kidding - she doesn't have a college fund.
Nah, she's got 20 perfectly healthy teeth! I was pretty shocked that
she did so well with her first trip to the dentist because she hasn't
been to thrilled about going when we've talked about it. I had an
appointment too and she was with me in my room for a bit while I
filled out paperwork, then they took her to her own room, which she
didn't protest at all. I was pretty proud of my big girl and now she's
actually interested in brushing her teeth at home. Hopefully that
means no more fighting with her when we brush.
I'm not holding my breath.
Anyway, the girls and I had lots of fun this afternoon playing that I
lost track of time and ended up feeding them a late lunch. Izzy was so
tired that she fell asleep without eating much of her lunch - with her
banana in her hand. I washed her up and put her to bed and she slept
for several hours. Needless to say she devoured her dinner when she
awoke!
Isabel Rose
