Doctor/Dentist Visits = Well Behaved Children?

On rare occasions I can take the girls out and it appears that I have my act together and have two very sweet little girls that actually behave.  Surprisingly, the only time this usually happens is when we go to the dentist or to the doctor's office.  My girls are odd in that they love going to those places.

Recently I had to take Allison to get shots on two separate occasions and she did wonderfully both times. She marched right back to the nurse's office and didn't even flinch when she got her shots.  The second time she went, Allison actually watched the nurse as she inserted the needle and she merely said "ouch." 

We went to the dentist a few weeks ago and Allison was so excited to go. She was bugging me all morning to leave. This was Amelia's first trip to the dentist as a patient - she watched Allison get her teeth cleaned last time.  Allison took the job of being the big sister very seriously and talked Amelia through the whole process. She even shared her sunglasses so the bright lights wouldn't bother Mia's eyes in the dentist's chair.  Amelia did great. You could tell she was a little nervous, but she thought that the moving chair was pretty cool.

Allison and Amelia were very excited about all the goodies they received - a new toothbrush, "big girl" toothpaste, a prize from the toy chest, and a sticker too!  They both behaved beautifully; everyone in the office was totally in love with them.  Maybe I should save my errands for days we are already scheduled to go to the dentist or doctor and while running the errands, tell the girls that if they behave, we can go to the dentist/doctor's office.

Happy Belated Mother's Day

Happy belated Mother's Day to all my family and friends who are moms.  Since I write this blog, I guess I will also wish myself a Happy's Mother's Day.

On Saturday, both sets of grandparents came over for dinner. We had a nice time visiting with our parents and they enjoyed catching up with each other and seeing the girls.

On Sunday, I worked at the Mother's Day brunch. Hopefully this will be the last Mother's Day that I have to work for a very long time (if ever again). At the end of this week, I am going to become a stay-at-home mom. I turned in my resignation at work and I will be taking some time off to spend with the girls.  I hope to eventually find a new job closer to home. For the past 10 years, I have been commuting one hour each way and it was starting to catch up with me. In addition, with Allison starting school in the fall, I realized this is valuable time that I am never going to get back. 

I'm excited to spend more time with the girls. I'm also nervous to spend more time with the girls. Will I do a good job at being a SAHM? Am I losing a part of my identity by not working outside the home or am I gaining a new part of my identity? I know there will be days it will be tough, but there will also be days where we will create some special memories together.  In the end, I just have to remind myself that I'm a good mom - not a "perfect" mom.  Plus, I don't really want to be that perfect mom. I simply want to do the best I can and I love my family. In the end, that is all that matters.

Needless to say, life with Allison and Amelia is going to get a little more adventurous.

P.S. I did get to celebrate Mother's Day after work. Brian made me a delicious steak dinner and I was able to relax while the kids played in the sandbox. After the girls went to bed, Brian and I sat on the patio and played games. All in all, it was a nice weekend.

When I Grow Up...

Amelia has some grandiose plans for when she grows up. I wish I have been writing all her plans down; she has been keeping us entertained.

"When I grow up, I am going to be a mom and chew gum."

"When I grow up, I'm going be a dad and drive a car." 

"When I grow up, I'm going to be a princess."

"When I grow up, I'm going to be HOCKEY MAN.  Papa, you and Nana can come to my games to watch me play."

"When I grow up, I'm going to be a hockey man, a baseball player, and a football player."

"When I grow to be a penguin, I'm going to eat fish."

In case you are wondering, Allison would like to be a teacher and then a doctor.

Siblings Day

April 10^th is Siblings Day….clearly I never got around to writing this post until now. I was good in that I had the video put together, just not the post.

A year ago the girls started a new daycare center. Because of their age difference, Allison and Amelia were placed in separate rooms. This would be the first time in 2.5 years that they wouldn’t be spending the day together. The rational side of me that composes 80% of my brain knew this was a good thing because the girls needed to spend some time apart and it would do them good. When the 20% emotional side kicked in, it broke my heart to think of them not seeing each other all day. After all, Allison and Amelia were the best of buddies and had always been together. In reality, they did just fine and saw each other throughout the day on the playground and at the end of the day when the daycare combined rooms.

Allison and Amelia continue to be each other’s frequent best friend and occasional foe. There are times that they drive us crazy with their fighting and then there are times they melt our hearts when the girls cuddle on the couch or show concern when one is sick or hurt. I can only hope as they grow older that they continue to be each other’s best friend and will always remember to care for one other.

When picking out a song for the video, I was trying to think of a new song I haven’t used before, but in the end I had to use “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” again. In my eyes, they are my Woody and Buzz.

I hope you enjoy the video I put together.

Easter Morning

Once again, we are very blessed to be able to celebrate the holidays together as a family. Easter morning started off bright and early when the girls woke up a little before 7 am. Allison was very excited to discover whether the Easter Bunny had come during the night. We headed downstairs to discover that eggs had indeed been hidden around the house. After finding the eggs (all but one which we luckily discovered later that afternoon), the girls were excited to sort through their Easter baskets.

We then headed to church for their early service, which allowed us to have some down time (and a nap for the kids) before Brian's family came over for a late lunch. By the end of the day, everyone was tired, but yet happy and stuffed with treats.



Easter Fun

Every year my cousin hosts an Easter party for all the kids. Allison was so excited for the party this year. She was ready to leave the house by 9 am, even though the party didn't start until 2 pm.  We tried to keep the girls distracted by running errands that morning, but Allison wanted nothing to do with that - all she wanted to do was to get in the car and head to the party.  Once we arrived at the party, the girls soon discovered the goodness of Peeps.

My cousin organized an egg hunt for the kids. Two of the eggs had a $5 bill in it.  Allison found one of the money eggs and was so proud of herself.  Even Mia was excited for her.  They had a blast finding the eggs and receiving a bunch of goodies.  After the egg hunt, they colored their Easter eggs.  

A moment of craftiness....A split moment

I'm rather bad about doing craft projects with the kids; however, I try not to feel too guilty about it since they do projects at daycare (and we pay enough for those projects).  A couple of weeks ago the girls' daycare was closed for staff training so I took the day off. I figured I should do something fun with them, so I decided to do a craft project. We had a ton of broken crayons so I thought that we could make new crayons out of them.  I sat down with the kids and explained exactly what we were doing. Allison and Amelia were very excited and amazed we were doing a craft project. Mia kept asking "why are we doing a craft project Mom? "  

The first step was to take the wrappers off the broken crayons. I figured this would be the easiest part since at one point in time, we had to take the crayons away from Amelia because she kept taking the papers off.  Thirty minutes later, the kids were off playing and I was still trying to take those darn wrappers off. When I finally got them all off, the girls came back to help me put the cut pieces of crayons into the muffin pans and patiently waited as they melted. They were very excited to show their Dad their new creations that night.

We also made homemade pretzels that afternoon or rather, homemade weapons made from dough, as they seemed to weigh about 20 lbs each. Next time, I need to use less dough and roll them out thinner. Oh well, like I said, I don't do too many craft projects.