Wednesday, May 26, 2010

sibling rivalry already

Olivia had her first major encounter with someone who completely ignored her in favor of her little sis. We were at Target, OE in the cart, Oggie in the bjorn. An older woman walked by and started loudly oooooohing and aaaaaaaahing over Mr. Ogg. She even went so far as to squeeze her leg chub (which is plentiful). This woman went on and on and on about how cute Audrey is: those eyes! those dimples! that CHUB! Olivia sat there totally silent -- if you know her, you know how rare that is -- and gaped at this woman. I could tell she was probably thinking, "Really, lady?" She finally did turn to O and tell her she was cute, and she replied, "Yep." I had to laugh.

So we're sitting here eating dinner (well, I'm eating; she's eyeing her food with distaste and begging to get down). I break out paper and a marker for her as a stall tactic. She starts writing and says, "I'm making a naughty list!" [note: this is from a Dora Christmas episode we last watched in December, not some parenting threat I'm busting out. Though now that I think of it ...] She finds a piece of scrap paper with a picture of a baby on it, starts scribbling on his face, and says, "Look! That's baby Audrey on the naughty list!" I asked her what Audrey did to get on the list: "She talks like a baby." Watch out, Audrey -- this probably won't be the first time Olivia throws you under the bus.

Monday, May 24, 2010

a few Olivia-isms

Just have to jot these down before I forget.

"poop my face" = what everyone else in the world calls a zerbert.

"I so sweaty from the birthday party/park/car!"

"Say!" -- as in, "Say! Have you seen my piggy?"

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

never enough time

I felt like I was so busy when Olivia was a baby -- I laugh now at all that free time I had. Oh, free time ... how I miss you.

I've obviously been bad about keeping up with this blog. Hopefully sweet Audrey won't think this is out of any sort of imagined 2nd child syndrome. I find her just as adorable and brilliant and fabulous as Olivia, but with two kiddos now clamoring for my attention nonstop, plus trying to freelance here and there ... it's just difficult.

My goal for the week -- hmm, maybe next week -- is to get my photos uploaded and caught up on here ... Audrey's 5-month birthday was on May 7th, and I got a shot of the two girls together for Mother's Day as well.

[editor's note: 5.5 hour has elapsed since I began typing this post.]

A quick rundown on recent events:
  • I ran the entire Talk Walk Run 5K for Hear Indiana! It took me 39:06 to do it, but the course was hilly and I'd only trained at a slow pace on a treadmill. I'm contemplating a 5-mile race in early June, and I've already signed up for the 500 Festival mini marathon in May 2011. I was also the top fundraiser for the event, bringing in $1800. Another guy got a big chunk of donations at the last minute, so technically I came in second, but the director had to cut off the fundraising at some point. Thanks to everyone who donated, and my great family and friends for all the support. A special shout-out to Uncle Na-Na, who ran with me and kept me motivated (and from trying to speed up during the flat patches).

  • Audrey is still not sleeping much better. This pains me. ;)

  • I've had a pretty steady stream of freelance work lately. This is both good ($$, mental stimulation beyond repeated viewings of Elmo's Potty Time) and bad (difficult to work when your children refuse bedtime). Grammy has been wonderful about helping out when she can, which is much appreciated.

  • I just enrolled Olivia in a pre-pre-preschool. It's 2 days a week for 2 hours each time, and is obviously play-based. It's a co-op, too, so I'll get a chance to be in the classroom with her once or twice a month. Mainly, I'm hoping that this will help her get more comfortable around other kids.

  • The girls ;) got me a really cute card for Mother's Day and a gift certificate to my favorite pedicure spot. It was a nice day. Now I need to figure out how to top last year's awesome Father's Day Kindle gift. I'm thinking I won't attempt another baseball game like last year, though.

Monday, May 3, 2010

It's 9:00. Parents, do you know where your children are?

#1 just fell asleep, despite skipping her nap today (I sense an alarming trend there);

#2 is still wide awake after a 30-minute cat nap at 7pm. Last night she was still kicking at 10:30.

Have I mentioned I'm on a deadline for a huge freelance project?

Dear universe:

I surrender! Here's my white flag. I apologize profusely for ... well, whatever it was I did in my previous life to get such crappy sleepers in the international baby lottery. Are these moms whose newborns sleep through the night at 6 weeks old paying you off? Because I want to get in on that racket. It's been almost five months. Five. Long. Months. Please, universe ... can you call off the dogs already? Surely it's quite entertaining, giving me a bad sleeper for my first kid and then an equally bad sleeper for the second when the world is full of "your second will be so much easier" adages. I'm tired. So tired that even 4 straight hours -- no, make that 3! -- of sleep sounds positively delightful. Can you transfer this house's bad-sleeping juju to a vapid celebrity who can afford a night nanny or two? Maybe one of those Kardashian girls? That'd be swell.

love,
me (the girl with the permanent dark circles who yawns a lot)