This year is flying by and I'm wondering if this is how the rest of life is going to be for us. Lately I've been having a complex about turning 35 because I keep seeing people on TV who are 35 and wondering "Do I look that old?!!!" A recent example: Aileen Wuornos (you know, the serial killer, lesbian prostitute). She was 35! Yes, she had a rough life and the mullet that she sported was not really the most feminine or youthful look, but...she was 35! Jim assures me that I look just like her.
It's not just turning 35 that is freaking me out. It's that I keep thinking about college and high school and wondering how it is that it's been almost 20 years since Jim and I met. It doesn't FEEL like it's been 20 years. Life shouldn't be allowed to do this! We keep making comments like, 'When Millie is 10, we'll be in our mid-40's," moment of silence while we contemplate this and then I point out how much gray hair Jim has (mine is dyed, so you can't see it as much) and he points out that mine is thinning (thanks to Millie, I'm losing my hair by the handful these days. Not to worry..it will grow back and to make me feel better, she seems to be losing a lot of hers, too) and reminds me that I look like Aileen Wuornos.
Despite the lack of photographic evidence in this particular blog, all is well on the home front. Evie has entered the "That's Mine" phase of life and every playgroup devolves into a micromanaged tussle between 2 year olds who don't understand the concept of sharing and who don't WANT to understand either. The other day when Evie snatched a toy out of my hand while emphatically stating that it was hers, I snatched it back and, in my most whiny voice said, "NO! That's MIIIIINE!!!!" Cue the waterworks. I'm not sure it was the best way to teach a lesson, in retrospect, but I was trying to show her that it wasn't an nice thing to do. The result was that she started sobbing and saying "Miine...Miine..Miine" over and over again. I guess your mom isn't supposed to be the bad guy. Since then she has moved on to focusing all of her "that's mine" energy on her baby sister who has neither the interest or the ability to a. take Evie's things or b. defend herself. Sharing is the word of the week.
Potty training has also been a hot topic around here. Despite the purchase of a brand new shiny duck potty, which sings songs when it is used and can also be used as a stool, Evie is just not that interested. Plus she knows how to make the potty sing without actually using it, which defeats the whole purpose. Even tempting her with chocolate mini-eggs could not convince her to sit on her potty without a tantrum. After an exhausting weekend, we surrendered and will try again eventually.
Pictures to come soon. And maybe the weather will get better so we can go out and do something and I don't have to blog about what is going on in our living room all the time. So boring...
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Videos
I'll start with some comparison videos of Evie and Millie at the same age and with the same toys. Evie LOVED her maraca when she was a baby and Millie also seems to like to play with it. It is a great distraction during screaming fits!
The Bumbo is also experiencing it's second life. We haven't tried putting Millie in it with the tray yet, but she enjoys sitting in it and looking around.
I took this video of Evie giving Millie kisses while I was fixing dinner the other night. They really do love each other.
And, Evierella cleans her kitchen...all because she wants to see herself on video, cleaning her kitchen. HAH!
The Bumbo is also experiencing it's second life. We haven't tried putting Millie in it with the tray yet, but she enjoys sitting in it and looking around.
I took this video of Evie giving Millie kisses while I was fixing dinner the other night. They really do love each other.
And, Evierella cleans her kitchen...all because she wants to see herself on video, cleaning her kitchen. HAH!
A week in February
February in London is not usually very warm, but we are trying our best to do some things. Unfortunately, the best day we had this week was Friday, but I forgot my camera. At least there are a few pictures and videos to share from the past week, if nothing too exciting to report.
Millie continues to grow like a weed and even did some tummy time without becoming hysterical. Lala will also be happy to know that she is now taking two baths a week (but still becoming hysterical):
Evie's Kookaburra also proves to be fun second hand (Millie's cute outfit is courtesy of Nana and Papa):
One day the sun came out and Evie wore her cool shades (thanks, Kate, Andy and Cora)!
We entertained ourselves by defacing some extra passport photos we had hanging around. Unfortunately we didn't have any spare ones of Millie to draw mustaches on, but she'll get one eventually. I especially like the one of me looking like a Mexican drug lord:
Millie can now sit in her Bumbo and has moved into the back seat of the double stroller, where she is much happier than she was when she was under the stroller in her 'cocoon'.
Here is Evie in her Valentine's Day Eve Cupcake Party attire. Blue headband (known as her 'blue crown'), heart accessories and new red wellies were selected by Evie. I made her take off the two pink tutus she was wearing before we left the house. She is getting very opinionated about her wardrobe, which leads to some ridiculous tantrums on occasion...
Both girls looked very pretty for the cupcake party we attended. Evie managed to sneak two cupcakes by charming one of the dads at the party after I told her she couldn't have a second one. She's already adept at the art of manipulation.
Finchley wasn't invited to the party, but he still looked good. I think he was a little jealous of Millie's ruffly shirt:
Sometime in the not too distant future, we are going to take some trips and spice this blog up a little, but until then we'll keep updating with the mundane. If the sun would come out, we might even venture out for some country walks or something...
Millie continues to grow like a weed and even did some tummy time without becoming hysterical. Lala will also be happy to know that she is now taking two baths a week (but still becoming hysterical):
Evie's Kookaburra also proves to be fun second hand (Millie's cute outfit is courtesy of Nana and Papa):
One day the sun came out and Evie wore her cool shades (thanks, Kate, Andy and Cora)!
We entertained ourselves by defacing some extra passport photos we had hanging around. Unfortunately we didn't have any spare ones of Millie to draw mustaches on, but she'll get one eventually. I especially like the one of me looking like a Mexican drug lord:
Millie can now sit in her Bumbo and has moved into the back seat of the double stroller, where she is much happier than she was when she was under the stroller in her 'cocoon'.
Here is Evie in her Valentine's Day Eve Cupcake Party attire. Blue headband (known as her 'blue crown'), heart accessories and new red wellies were selected by Evie. I made her take off the two pink tutus she was wearing before we left the house. She is getting very opinionated about her wardrobe, which leads to some ridiculous tantrums on occasion...
Both girls looked very pretty for the cupcake party we attended. Evie managed to sneak two cupcakes by charming one of the dads at the party after I told her she couldn't have a second one. She's already adept at the art of manipulation.
Finchley wasn't invited to the party, but he still looked good. I think he was a little jealous of Millie's ruffly shirt:
Sometime in the not too distant future, we are going to take some trips and spice this blog up a little, but until then we'll keep updating with the mundane. If the sun would come out, we might even venture out for some country walks or something...
Sunday, February 06, 2011
I'm feeling so happy that both kids are in bed by 7:45 and Jim is cooking dinner and I actually have time to blog again, that I'm going to blog some more!
I don't know when this picture was taken, but I think it's very sweet, despite the fact that Evie has orange food to match her orange tutu all over her face.
Being a good and helpful big sister comes naturally to Evie. I hope that she and Millie will always be best friends!
The day that this picture was taken, we rented a car and drove out to a friend's 2 year old's birthday party. On the way there, Evie was car sick, so we pulled over and cleaned her up. Luckily, she had several layers on (a coat and her orange tutu over her other clothes), but by the time we actually go to the party, she was sick again...andwe didn't get to go to the party, although she did have a quick bath and change into borrowed clothes. By the time we got home, Evie looked like this:
Car sickness agrees with her, apparently. Having her hair done by JIm, on the other hand, does not:
The acquisition of a new big girl bed had a similar deranged effect...
Here is Evie, officially handing off her crib to Millie:
And reveling in her new, awesome big girl room:
Somebody else really like Evie's new room, too:
Before the miracle that is the 7:00 bed time began to happen, we used to spend lots of quality time with Millie late at night. She was very happy for all the attention and also very awake.
Today marks the first day since Millie was born that I haven't sat on the yoga ball ONCE. Go Millie and your new good mood!!! See what a good night's sleep can do for you?!
We have a bunch of fun things coming up to look forward to so if the sleep continues and the bedtimes stay early, I will be updating the blog a lot!
I don't know when this picture was taken, but I think it's very sweet, despite the fact that Evie has orange food to match her orange tutu all over her face.
Being a good and helpful big sister comes naturally to Evie. I hope that she and Millie will always be best friends!
The day that this picture was taken, we rented a car and drove out to a friend's 2 year old's birthday party. On the way there, Evie was car sick, so we pulled over and cleaned her up. Luckily, she had several layers on (a coat and her orange tutu over her other clothes), but by the time we actually go to the party, she was sick again...andwe didn't get to go to the party, although she did have a quick bath and change into borrowed clothes. By the time we got home, Evie looked like this:
Car sickness agrees with her, apparently. Having her hair done by JIm, on the other hand, does not:
The acquisition of a new big girl bed had a similar deranged effect...
Here is Evie, officially handing off her crib to Millie:
And reveling in her new, awesome big girl room:
Somebody else really like Evie's new room, too:
Before the miracle that is the 7:00 bed time began to happen, we used to spend lots of quality time with Millie late at night. She was very happy for all the attention and also very awake. 
Today marks the first day since Millie was born that I haven't sat on the yoga ball ONCE. Go Millie and your new good mood!!! See what a good night's sleep can do for you?!
We have a bunch of fun things coming up to look forward to so if the sleep continues and the bedtimes stay early, I will be updating the blog a lot!
An attempt to be back!
I'm not going to try to catch up on all the little things that have been missed during my break from blogging, but just will focus on the highlights. The major January EVENT was Evie's birthday, which culminated in a CINDERELLA BIRTHDAY PARTY!!!!! It was the best day of her life, I'm pretty sure.
Evie is escorted down to her birthday party by none other than Cinderella (the Welsh version):
Millie wore her Cinderella dress to the ball....uh, party...too!
A princess curtsy with Cinderella after her fabulous party (pictures of which I will spare you. There were lots of two year olds, lots of balloons, a parachute, some magic and some fairy dust...and cake!).
As you can see, Evie also has taken an interest in Snow White...and the magical healing powers of Love's first kiss (because every little girl loves her Daddy first)!
Millie loves Daddy, too (see shirt):
And, speaking of Millie, she has suddenly blossomed into a very happy baby (except for right now because I put her down in her crib for the purpose of writing this blog):
She also has decided that facing forward in the sling is the way to go. Today we took a family walk into the Heath and Millie looked out and around, until it got too windy and was nap time, at which point she was forced to face me again:
There is a lot of 'gazing lovingly' going on in this household lately. Everyone is getting into the spirit of Valentine's Day!
A family walk scowl:
As usual, on a windy day, we forgot to bring our kite, but we did enjoy looking at other people's kites. Evie was particularly interested in an octopus kite. The best part about it was hearing Evie try to say "octopus."
The red blur ran down Parliament Hill:
Future Horticulturist?
In the background there was a minor poop explosion, which had to be dealt with, so Jim and Evie broke out the infamous pink ball:
It was a nice, if slightly windy and slightly too long family walk. Here's hoping that spring weather comes to London soon! Millie wants to show off her chubby thighs!
Evie is escorted down to her birthday party by none other than Cinderella (the Welsh version):
Millie wore her Cinderella dress to the ball....uh, party...too!
A princess curtsy with Cinderella after her fabulous party (pictures of which I will spare you. There were lots of two year olds, lots of balloons, a parachute, some magic and some fairy dust...and cake!).
As you can see, Evie also has taken an interest in Snow White...and the magical healing powers of Love's first kiss (because every little girl loves her Daddy first)!
Millie loves Daddy, too (see shirt):
And, speaking of Millie, she has suddenly blossomed into a very happy baby (except for right now because I put her down in her crib for the purpose of writing this blog):
She also has decided that facing forward in the sling is the way to go. Today we took a family walk into the Heath and Millie looked out and around, until it got too windy and was nap time, at which point she was forced to face me again:
There is a lot of 'gazing lovingly' going on in this household lately. Everyone is getting into the spirit of Valentine's Day!
A family walk scowl:
As usual, on a windy day, we forgot to bring our kite, but we did enjoy looking at other people's kites. Evie was particularly interested in an octopus kite. The best part about it was hearing Evie try to say "octopus."
The red blur ran down Parliament Hill:
Future Horticulturist?
In the background there was a minor poop explosion, which had to be dealt with, so Jim and Evie broke out the infamous pink ball:
It was a nice, if slightly windy and slightly too long family walk. Here's hoping that spring weather comes to London soon! Millie wants to show off her chubby thighs!
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Hiatus
Apologies for the lack of blogging recently. I haven't abandoned the blog, but I also haven't had time to actually update the blog. SO, we are taking a temporary break until things calm down a little around here. Once I've got the dual child thing mastered and can find a little free time during the day that isn't completely dominated by laundry and dishes and diaper changes, I will get back to blogging. Soon, I hope!
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Christmas 2010
Well, we got all festive and dressed the girls up in their Christmas finery to go see Santa. Millie was particularly excited about posing in front of the Christmas tree:
On our way to Selfridge's, it started to snow! Here we are in a not very Christmasy looking picture in downtown London. All those people in the bus behind us were probably on their way to the airport. Once, we took that bus from the airport and it reeked of urine...but I digress.
Selfridge's has a pretty fancy set up on the way to visit Santa, but Evie wasn't really feeling it. The robotic reindeer was a little scary (but the weird little elves popping out of the trees all around us were not)...
The Santa Express was a little overwhelming....
The pretty elf was a little less scary:
and Santa was just a big weirdo, with his beard, as usual, not correctly on his face. I wouldn't want to sit on Santa's lap either if I could see his mustache poking out above his fake beard! Evie did manage to squeak out that she would like a kitchen, though, before bolting to the other side of Santa's room.
Millie, on the other hand, wasn't bothered by Santa at all:
Eventually, we managed to get a silly family picture with Santa, but unfortunately for the world wide web, our scanner is broken, so it won't be featured on this blog.
The snow was much more appreciated than Santa:
Our cab couldn't actually get us home, so we had a nice winter stroll in the fresh snow:
Evie and Jim built Evie's first snowman in our garden:
What up, snowman?
Snow buddies... I wasn't there for the snowman building, but Jim reports that Evie was enthusiastically talking to her snowman, kissing him and hugging him, throughout the snowman making process:
By the next morning, the birds had eaten off his raisin eyes and mouth and eventually his head fell off, but there are still a few of his remains in our garden and Evie is still excited to say good morning to him when she has breakfast.
Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house, we were very disorganized and waited until the last minute to make oatmeal cookies for Santa:
And we tracked Santa's moves on Norco. Luckily, he was still in the South of France at that point.
Evie proudly put her cookies next to the fireplace:
Then we took a happy Christmas Eve picture of our happy girls! No, Evie, we don't know what to do when Millie does that either:
The next morning...miracle of miracles!...the cookies were gone!
And, the real Christmas miracle, Millie slept six hours straight and then into the morning!
Evie probably would have been happy with only her stocking...because it had Cinderella book in it (as a side note, I got the book at Oxfam for 1 GBP):
I also got some nice stuff in my stocking for when I finally motivate to go running:
And Evie learned about an important Christmas tradition: there will always be an orange in your stocking.
Both girls got some very sweet stuffed animals, which Evie decided she would be in charge of. I have since put Millie's away for when she's older.
Jim was the proud recipient of a painted by Evie mug:
You know it's Christmas when your wife gets you new underwear:
Hmm...you can see how Millie spends most of her time (except late at night, of course):
Eventually she woke up and gazed lovingly at her Millie Mouse, which her cousin Jenna picked out for her:
We saw the sweet, but elusive Millie smile on Christmas morning:
Christmas pajama party (courtesy of Nana and Papa...and my PJs are from a past Nana and Papa Christmas, too)! Evie likes to shout "SMILE!!!!" whenever a picture is taken and therefore ends up with her mouth open for a lot of them.
Finchley even got in on the Christmas action:
And I got some cool and updated winter head gear, so that I don't have to look like I'm wearing a purple tea cozy on my head anymore:
But wait...what is this!? A kitchen!!! Thanks, Santa!!!
Before she could start cooking, Evie had to get into her cooking outfit: A very pink tee-shirt bearing a picture of her number one blankie, Dou Dou, over a rainbow shirt and paired with a shockingly pink tutu with attached leggings.
Time to cook!
And time to eat! The picnic blanket is courtesy of Aunt Kate, who made it for Evie before she was born.
Minnie Mouse (from Evie's and Millie's cousin Cora) joined us for the plastic food feast. She was appropriately dressed in a pink outfit:
Nothing like a tiny plastic hamburger to whet your appetite for Christmas dinner:
As you might recall, Jim came down with Chicken Pox the day that we were planning to have a pseudo-Thanksgiving dinner. Feeling gypped out of his pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving, he insisted that we have pumpkin pie for Christmas dinner. Not really traditional, but it was delicious and he even made the pie crust!
This is what our dining room looks like. Every room of our house has been taken over by some sort of kid paraphernalia. The dining room is mostly an art room these days and we eat our meals surrounded by Evie's artistic efforts.
A very hungry Evie poses for her Daddy while he experiments with his new camera flash:
Yorkshire Pudding! And yet another opportunity to complain about UK appliances! The Yorkshire pud puffed up beautiful and then puffed up so much that our teeny tiny oven could not accommodate it. We had to slightly unpuff it to cook it without the top of it burning to a crisp. Grrr. It still tasted delicious.
Christmas Cracker Crowns:
What a feast! We had a delicious roast, slightly undercooked Brussels Sprouts, a little deflated but still yummy Yorkshire Pudding, mashed sweet potatoes (because Evie won't eat plain old mashed potatoes) and pumpkin pie with ice cream. Evie, upon receiving her pie, refused, at first, to try it. But when she finally could be coaxed into tasting it, she was instantly a pumpkin pie devotee. Ice cream, though, is still her favorite. Millie enjoyed the meal from within the sling and stopped crying long enough for me to eat after a little bouncing on the yoga ball.
Our first Christmas as a family of four was busy and fun! Next year we'll hopefully be able to celebrate it with our extended family, too!
SMILE!!!!
On our way to Selfridge's, it started to snow! Here we are in a not very Christmasy looking picture in downtown London. All those people in the bus behind us were probably on their way to the airport. Once, we took that bus from the airport and it reeked of urine...but I digress.
Selfridge's has a pretty fancy set up on the way to visit Santa, but Evie wasn't really feeling it. The robotic reindeer was a little scary (but the weird little elves popping out of the trees all around us were not)...
The Santa Express was a little overwhelming....
The pretty elf was a little less scary:
and Santa was just a big weirdo, with his beard, as usual, not correctly on his face. I wouldn't want to sit on Santa's lap either if I could see his mustache poking out above his fake beard! Evie did manage to squeak out that she would like a kitchen, though, before bolting to the other side of Santa's room.
Millie, on the other hand, wasn't bothered by Santa at all:
Eventually, we managed to get a silly family picture with Santa, but unfortunately for the world wide web, our scanner is broken, so it won't be featured on this blog.The snow was much more appreciated than Santa:
Our cab couldn't actually get us home, so we had a nice winter stroll in the fresh snow:
Evie and Jim built Evie's first snowman in our garden:
What up, snowman? 
Snow buddies... I wasn't there for the snowman building, but Jim reports that Evie was enthusiastically talking to her snowman, kissing him and hugging him, throughout the snowman making process:
By the next morning, the birds had eaten off his raisin eyes and mouth and eventually his head fell off, but there are still a few of his remains in our garden and Evie is still excited to say good morning to him when she has breakfast.Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house, we were very disorganized and waited until the last minute to make oatmeal cookies for Santa:
And we tracked Santa's moves on Norco. Luckily, he was still in the South of France at that point.
Evie proudly put her cookies next to the fireplace:
Then we took a happy Christmas Eve picture of our happy girls! No, Evie, we don't know what to do when Millie does that either:
The next morning...miracle of miracles!...the cookies were gone!
And, the real Christmas miracle, Millie slept six hours straight and then into the morning!
Evie probably would have been happy with only her stocking...because it had Cinderella book in it (as a side note, I got the book at Oxfam for 1 GBP):
I also got some nice stuff in my stocking for when I finally motivate to go running:
And Evie learned about an important Christmas tradition: there will always be an orange in your stocking.
Both girls got some very sweet stuffed animals, which Evie decided she would be in charge of. I have since put Millie's away for when she's older.
Jim was the proud recipient of a painted by Evie mug:
You know it's Christmas when your wife gets you new underwear:
Hmm...you can see how Millie spends most of her time (except late at night, of course):
Eventually she woke up and gazed lovingly at her Millie Mouse, which her cousin Jenna picked out for her:
We saw the sweet, but elusive Millie smile on Christmas morning:
Christmas pajama party (courtesy of Nana and Papa...and my PJs are from a past Nana and Papa Christmas, too)! Evie likes to shout "SMILE!!!!" whenever a picture is taken and therefore ends up with her mouth open for a lot of them.
Finchley even got in on the Christmas action:
And I got some cool and updated winter head gear, so that I don't have to look like I'm wearing a purple tea cozy on my head anymore:
But wait...what is this!? A kitchen!!! Thanks, Santa!!!
Before she could start cooking, Evie had to get into her cooking outfit: A very pink tee-shirt bearing a picture of her number one blankie, Dou Dou, over a rainbow shirt and paired with a shockingly pink tutu with attached leggings. 
Time to cook!
And time to eat! The picnic blanket is courtesy of Aunt Kate, who made it for Evie before she was born.
Minnie Mouse (from Evie's and Millie's cousin Cora) joined us for the plastic food feast. She was appropriately dressed in a pink outfit:
Nothing like a tiny plastic hamburger to whet your appetite for Christmas dinner:
As you might recall, Jim came down with Chicken Pox the day that we were planning to have a pseudo-Thanksgiving dinner. Feeling gypped out of his pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving, he insisted that we have pumpkin pie for Christmas dinner. Not really traditional, but it was delicious and he even made the pie crust!
This is what our dining room looks like. Every room of our house has been taken over by some sort of kid paraphernalia. The dining room is mostly an art room these days and we eat our meals surrounded by Evie's artistic efforts.
A very hungry Evie poses for her Daddy while he experiments with his new camera flash:
Yorkshire Pudding! And yet another opportunity to complain about UK appliances! The Yorkshire pud puffed up beautiful and then puffed up so much that our teeny tiny oven could not accommodate it. We had to slightly unpuff it to cook it without the top of it burning to a crisp. Grrr. It still tasted delicious.
Christmas Cracker Crowns:
What a feast! We had a delicious roast, slightly undercooked Brussels Sprouts, a little deflated but still yummy Yorkshire Pudding, mashed sweet potatoes (because Evie won't eat plain old mashed potatoes) and pumpkin pie with ice cream. Evie, upon receiving her pie, refused, at first, to try it. But when she finally could be coaxed into tasting it, she was instantly a pumpkin pie devotee. Ice cream, though, is still her favorite. Millie enjoyed the meal from within the sling and stopped crying long enough for me to eat after a little bouncing on the yoga ball.
Our first Christmas as a family of four was busy and fun! Next year we'll hopefully be able to celebrate it with our extended family, too! SMILE!!!!
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