Christmas - In Review

We spent Christmas weekend at Ken's dad's house.  Ken's dad doesn't have a lot of room in his living room for a Christmas tree, so he hung it from the ceiling.  Isn't it cool?  Both Amelia and Sophia loved looking at it.

 Unfortunately for us, Amelia, Sophia, and I felt miserable all weekend with icky colds.  But despite feeling icky, Sophia kept on smiling.  She loved meeting her Grandma Diane . . .

 and her Grandpa Ernie.  And loved being held by anyone and everyone while she slept away the weekend.

Amelia's cold only seemed to affect her at night, which unfortunately kept us all up.  But during the day she loved playing with Grandpa and her California cousins . . . seen here with Landon. 

It was great to spend time with family, even if we all felt icky.

It Happened

I've been wondering when this day would come . . . and today, it happened.

But before I tell you about today, I must give you a little background info.  Amelia is in that stage where she likes to do everything I do and/or do it to her bears.  She likes to change their diapers and put on lotion.  She likes to sweep, pretend to go potty (complete with getting toilet paper to wipe herself), and do her hair.

Today I was feeding Sophia and Amelia was quietly playing in her room.  I heard a rustling noise and assumed she was playing with the diapers and her bears.  And then I heard her say "ah- oh".  When I went to investigate, I found Amelia in the bathroom with the whole roll of toilet paper unrolled on the floor and her bear on the potty.   My guess - she was trying to get toilet paper to wipe her bear after he went potty, and got just a bit more toilet paper than she needed.

By the time I returned with the camera, I found Amelia picking up all the toilet paper.  When I asked her if she wanted to throw it away, she said yes and carried it all to the garbage can . . . and even went back to pick up the pieces she had dropped.

She may not be feeling great, but at least she's feeling helpful ;)

'Tis the Season for . . .

Colds - Poor Amelia.  She has a cold and is still teething a molar.  She is one unhappy camper. I'm just hoping that neither Sophia nor I get the cold, but I don't think we'll be that lucky.
Crazy Parking lots - I can handle the chaos inside of stores, but parking lots can drive me crazy.  My pet peeve: when drivers hover for a parking spot.  This is especially annoying when the car hovering is directly behind my car so that I can't get out of my spot.  Today I actually got out of my car and told the lady hovering behind me that she could have my spot if she would back up.  Due to the cars behind her, she couldn't back up, so she pulled forward and missed out on my spot AND the spot she was waiting for.
Clutter - Okay, so it's not necessarily the season for clutter, but I can't seem to get rid of the piles on my counter.  I clear up one and two more appear.  Sigh.  Maybe after the holidays?

Pictures

We attempted to take a family picture yesterday.  It didn't go so well.  You can laugh - we did.

On a happier note, Amelia didn't cry sitting on Santa's lap at our church party . . . but I'm sure she doesn't know why she's there.  She was more interested in the dessert table.

Addicted

I am addicted.

Ya know how when your skin is peeling after a sunburn and ya just have to peel it?  No?  Am I the only one?

Well, I don't have a sunburn, and neither do my girls, but Sophia's head is crusty and peeling from cradle cap.  It will go away on it's own without assistance from me . . . but I am addicted to peeling it off. 

I'm very gentle and don't do it all the time, but I can't seem to get myself to stop doing it.

And on a different hygiene note:  I don't bathe Sophia everyday, and I forget to clean her sweaty hands until they start smelling like stinky feet.  You would think I could remember to do something so simple as cleaning her hands.

Broken Records

We have a lot of broken records at our house.  The most common one sounds like this:

Amelia: Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, etc.

This is said in multiple pitches and most of the time it does not mean she wants her mommy.

The 2nd most common broken record sounds like this:

Me: Amelia, please sit down.

This is said repeatedly and in many different tones to Amelia anytime she is in her chair at the table.  And no, it doesn't prevent her from falling out of her chair (which she has done), but it makes me feel like more of a responsible parent.

And on a completely non-related note, we took Amelia to get a bang trim at a salon, rather than to the "Schnell's Crooked Haircuts".  I was worried how Amelia would be, so I made Ken come with me, but Amelia was great.  She loved the airplane chair and thought the cape was neat.  She didn't want to leave after her bangs were trimmed.  I even learned a new way to do Amelia's hair - bonus!

6 Weeks and Randomness

I can't believe Sophia is 6 weeks old already . . . and yet it seems like she's always been a part of our family.

* Sophia's hair is so long in back that it gets into dread locks when she rubs her head back and forth on her bed.
* I have become less concerned about the cleanliness of the house.  If things get cleaned, that's great, but if not, life goes on.
* Amelia's temper tantrums are decreasing and she is so fun to watch as she rubs Sophia's head when she's crying or helps me burp Sophia.
* Thanks to Ken, our Christmas decorations are up . . . at least the non-breakable ones.  Amelia has left the ornaments alone, but she's very curious about everything lately and I didn't want to lose the Christmas spirit if something got broken.
* My clothes closet needs a major overhaul - my clothes are either business attire, 15 years old, or maternity clothes.  I have Ken's encouragement to go shopping for new clothes, but now I somehow need to find time to go clothes shopping without an almost 2 year old and a 2 month old.
* I am no good at spontaneous random conversations with people; ie. when you run into someone you know in the store and stop to chat . . . my chatting sounds forced and stupid, even though I may be sincerely interested in talking to that person.  My apologies to people I've tried to talk to lately.