Vacation: The Pool

Greg and went out to dinner on the first night we were there, and my dad promised the girls that they would go down to the pool at night.  They thought that was SO cool.  The whole rest of the week, they kept asking if we could go to the pool at night, but with all of the other stuff we had going on, we never did make it back out at night.

With their fears early on of the ocean, we really did spend a good chunk of time at the pool.

Love this picture of Julie, even though the lighting is all screwed up.

At some point toward the middle of the week, my dad managed to get the girls out of the little splash pool and into the big pool.  For Emma, this wasn't too big of a stretch, since she had started "swimming" without hanging on us at the water park over the summer.  But for Becca, it was huge.  Julie wasn't completely won over, and still preferred to spend her time in the big pool sitting on the steps, or having someone holding her.

Apparently he got them in using some pool dolls we have, and doing "rescues" of the dolls.  Why don't I think of this stuff?

Once they were swimming, they took them over to the lazy river to let them swim.  They loved the lazy river - it got them going pretty fast, especially around the corners.  It was pretty crazy.

And then, of course, they stepped up the game again and started jumping to us.

Once they figured out how much fun jumping was, it was all they wanted to do.  Julie, who still wasn't really crazy about swimming with someone holding her, went from being the most hesitant on the jumps (from essentially holding her while she jumped) to these crazy far jumps that she'd just throw herself into.

By the last day, Emma and Becca would jump, go under, and "swim" to papa.  Lots of movies of that, but not many pictures.

I can't believe how far they came in a week!  My little swimmers.  I guess we are ready to start up some swimming lessons again.

Ocean vs. Pool

Lots of people have asked if the girls liked the ocean or not. They liked playing in the sand. Becca liked collecting shells. And for a little while, they liked playing at the water's edge. But they didn't really like to go swimming in the ocean.

For swimming, they LOVED the pools. The hotel had 1-1.5' deep kids' pools. It was the perfect depth for the girls to feel like they were swimming in the water, but not be frightened by. They also loved being able to get in and out of the pool by themselves.






The kids' pools also had these mushroom/umbrella shaped things that water flowed over the top of. At first, the girls were terrified. Then wary.

And then they started easing in to them. And, by easing in, I mean testing them out with our heinies.


By the end of the week, they loved it.



They also became "ladies who lounge." Maybe I could learn something from them.




And yes, theoretically, all that fun could have just worn some of us out until we fell asleep at the pool.

Summer Vacation, Part 1

We've been having way too much fun lately to blog! We've been on summer vacation for the last week and a half, taking lots of pictures and spending lots of time with family and friends.

We left the Thursday before the 4th of July, and spent a good 15 hours on the road.


The girls did great in the car. I was pleasantly surprised. We left the house at 4 am, and they slept until 6 or 7. We even made it until after lunch before we broke out the DVDs. We broke the drive up into 3 hour stretches, which seemed to work for all of us. The other good thing was that one of our breaks brought us right to my friend Beth's part of town. Well, part of the state at least. It was so great to see her in person again, since we met online. Of course I forgot to get pictures with her... since we ended up doing 6 diaper changes in the McDonald's parking lot, but Julie made a new best friend. She was attached to Beth nearly immediately. We had a nice play (and ice cream break), and then it was back on the road.

Our main goal on Friday was to get into the pool. We got everyone lotioned up and out there to test out our new life jacket swimmy things. A co-worker of my mom's came by while we were in the pool and brought us some cakes. We attempted lunch after that, but you probably know how lunch after cake goes.

Greg and I got a date night out on Friday night, thanks to Victoria and my parents. Apparently Victoria promised them ice cream if they finished their dinner, so they all went out for ice cream. Greg and I didn't do anything fancy - Qdoba (since we don't have those by us), shopping at Target, some ice cream from Cliff's, and some browsing at Border's.


Have I mentioned my love of the vanilla soft serve dipped in cherry? Because it is absolute ice cream heaven. I haven't been able to find the cherry dip near where we live, so I must fill my quota while I'm here.

The pool was at the top of our agenda on Saturday, too. We had snacks out by the pool, and the girls were introduced to (and fell in love with) cheese balls.

R eating a cheese ball...


and then trying to figure out how to double fist it.


Another cheese ball.


Emma cheese ball, covered in cheese ball.


The girls were really starting to get more comfortable in the water. and were "swimming."

Personality and Developmental Notes 10/15/10

Julie finished up her swimming lessons at the beginning of the month. It sounds like she started to enjoy it some more, though she still wouldn't let the teacher hold her. But I think she liked splashing around, and she didn't scream when they dunked her.

Greg was reading an alphabet book to the girls recently, and when they got to the "Q is for Queen" page, Emma pointed at the photograph of Queen Elizabeth and said, "momma?". I don't know whether to be happy that she thinks I'm a queen, or insulted that she thinks that an 80 year old woman is her mother.

Our favorite game right now is "Hiding Things". They have figured out that it is amusing to hide things and then pretend you don't know where they are. Then they hold both of their arms out, palms up, and say whatever they just hid. It started with Emma hiding her juice cup in the cabinet. The she hid her stuffed animal under blankets. Julie started hiding her"wack wack" duck in the cabinet. And then this week, Becca and Julie were hiding their spoons under their placemats and saying, "boon?"

Daycare drop offs have gotten better lately. They're still a little clingy, but no out-and-out screaming or tears.

Emma's baths have gotten a bit better, too, though she's still not happy to be there. She cries, but without any actual tears. Greg figured out that bubbles help distract her, but there doesn't appear to be a cure for the hair washing. I've decided to hold off on any more swimming in the pool with her until she's ok with baths again.

Emma is throwing fits at dinner time most nights. I am starting to wonder if she doesn't like food that is mixed together (like chili).

The Good, The Bad, and The Junkyosaurus

We went to Chick-Fil-A for dinner last Friday night, partly because we're out of ideas if they won't eat quesadillas anymore. Anyhow, it was actually a great, very family friendly experience. I was pleasantly surprised for a fast food restaurant. But people came around to see if we needed anything and refill our drinks and take our trash. Another family switched tables when we got there so that we'd have more room (and warned us that they had just super sanitized the play area because someone puked, not that we were going to let them out there yet anyway.) And we talked to a nice family next to us with older twins.

Greg took Julie swimming again on Saturday and said that she was starting to enjoy it more and get a little more comfortable. She still won't go to the teacher, and they haven't dunked her yet, but I think she'll be fine. I haven't taken Emma swimming again because she is terrified of the bath tub right now, and I can't understand. Just a couple of weeks ago, they fought over who got to go first ("bah? bah?"). But now she screams before she even gets in the water. I'm afraid our swimming trip scared her. She is scared of everything at the moment.

While Julie was swimming, Emma, Becca, and I went to Michael's, which was a bit of a disaster (but worth the 45% off albums and storage and my 50% coupon on an adhesive tape gun) because there's no such thing as a double cart at Michael's. I had to put Becca in the back of the tiny little cart, which left room for nothing else. They were throwing stuff out of the cart, so I was trying to hold stuff with one hand, and steer the tiny (now heavy) little cart with the other. Sigh. At least it was early enough that there were few witnesses.

We did make it to Costco next and survived that a little better. They had samples of gelato and sorbet that Emma was all over, but Becca wouldn't taste any more of after her first spoon of mango sorbet. I think she didn't like the cold.

Greg did some work in they yard in the afternoon. We've still got a round indentation where the above ground pool was (that we got rid of as soon as we moved in), so he was trying to level that and plant some grass seed. We're trying to catch up on house projects that are overdue. I'm tasked with checking prices of replacement windows. We'll be needing a roof soon, too. Lots of little things, and lots of big things.

On Sunday afternoon, we went apple picking again, with 2 wagons. All of the close-by trees are looking pretty empty, so we treked further than we ever have before, up and down big hills, and found lots of apples. It was certainly a work out!

The girls have only recently decided that they like apples again. Greg and I had picked a couple of apples on Sunday, and my back was turned for a minute. When I turned around, I saw this:

She had just reached into the bucket and helped herself.

Of course, then the others had to have some. Emma, going in:


Becca taking an almost-smile break:


What do you think, will this one be allowed to ride in the wagon with the basket of apples again?


She threw the exact same fit that Emma did when I had to take the basket of apples out of the wagon to put them in a bag.

This week has been pretty crazy so far. As I was putting Emma in the van to go apple picking, she had some junk in her eye that I just wiped out. She seemed ok while we were there, but it gunked up pretty good on the ride home... so I pretty much knew on Monday morning that she had pink eye. Again. Conjunctivitis. Or, Junkyosaurus as I like to call it. We started drops after a trip to the doctor. She still had some junk on Tuesday morning, so I stayed home with her again. On Tuesday afternoon, I noticed a huge swollen patch on her belly that basically looked like she had been attacked by a swarm of mosquitos. But it wasn't bothering her, and when I looked later, it was gone.

So, of course when she gets up on Wednesday morning, she's covered in welts ... arms, legs, back. But the ones that she woke up with were gone by the time we got to the doctor, and new ones had appeared. Apparently I've never seen hives before, because the doctor said that this was typical - the appearance, moving and disappearing. But he said the hives were most likely due to the virus that caused her pink eye... meaning she was still contagious and I had to keep her home again. It's been nice to really get to hang out one-on-one with her the past few days. She's been very clingy, and has been like my shadow. Thank goodness for a fairly flexible work situation.

I've been feeling horribly worn out lately, like I'm just in a daze and trying to get through the day. I feel physically run down, mentally exhausted, and emotionally drained. I kind of feel like I've been run over by a truck. I just need a vacation ... hahahaha

The girls have been continuing to terrorize the fireplace, and I am at my wit's end. I am seriously about to buy them a big heavy kitchen play set to reward them for not listening. We did start using the pack and play for a thinking spot, and while they don't like being in there, I don't think they are getting that what they are doing is bad (although Emma has started trying to repeat me when I yell -- "BA!"). Now, if I'm in the kitchen and yell at Becca, she keeps banging on the doors until I have to go in there, and then she raises her arms to me to be picked up. It's kind of heartbreaking to know she's doing it for attention. To know that she thinks I'm not giving her enough.

Sigh.

Daycare drop offs are going down hill again. Because just starts screaming and bawling when we walk in the door of the room. Emma hangs on my legs and cries "mama mama mama" until one of her teachers rips her from my legs. Them she just keeps crying and reaching for me. (Surprisingly, Julie is ok at the moment.). It's killing me to leave them there anymore. The other kids there aren't doing this, which throws my "it's just this age" theory out the window.

I barely remember this past weekend. Greg took Julie to her first swimming lesson, and said she was ok only so long as he didn't try to let go of her. She wouldn't go to the teacher and had to be able to see Greg's face. I took Emma swimming on Sunday afternoon and she was pretty freaked out. Hopefully they will both warm up.

I think it was this past weekend that we all went to Atlanta Bread for dinner. It went fairly well. The girls each got their own spoon to eat some potato soup. It was pretty empty because we have to eat so early, so I was a bit annoyed when these women sat down close to us. Do I need to warn them? There are a ton of empty tables. But they were really nice and just wanted to sit next to us to admire the girls. They must have been on their best behavior, because the ladies stayed there the whole time.

I finally got around to making an apple crisp this week with some of the apples we picked over Labor Day weekend. It makes the house smell so good when it is cooking (especially when you are used to the smell of diapers).

One of our quick dinners involves a cheese/veg soup and some potato skins with chicken, BBQ sauce, and mozzarella cheese. I made the girls a really yummy (seriously I think it tasted better than what we ate) mush of potato, cheese, chicken, and pureed vegetables. They ate some of the mush, but really wanted to eat the potato skins. I hadn't planned on them eating them, but I think they ate more than Greg or I got. They continue to surprise me with their food choices. No one liked my apple crisp, either.

Emma has become terrified in the bath tub. I hope going to the pool didn't traumatized her. I think she doesn't like water on her head because washing her hair has been a struggle for a while now. But now she freaks out a minute or so after getting in, and just screams and stands up. I've been trying to do 2 of their baths at the same time, and her standing and yelling really complicates things.

Pictures to follow

I feel like I barely caught up on last week, and now another week is over already. Time is just flying by.

Last Tuesday, I was invited to speak at a kickoff lunch for a new March of Dimes campaign. I know I promised not to nag for donations more than once a year, so I won't be sending out emails this time. But in my defense, I didn't know about this event at the time. It's a big fundraiser at the zoo. They focus on kids helping kids for this one, so they target schools, daycares, etc. Once I figure out how it will work, I'll post more info.

The girls had their 18 month check ups last week. (We got behind at some point, because they're more than 19 months now.). We took Emma and Becca on Tuesday, and they were fine until we walked into the actual exam room, and then they started crying. I kind of thought they were just feeding off each other, but when I took Julie on Thursday, she did the exact same thing. The doctor and nurses said that a lot of it has to do with their age right now, which may also explain why daycare drop offs have gotten so bad again. Of course, I don't think Becca is vey fond of small closed rooms, either. She freaks out whenever I have to take her to the bathroom with me, even before the toilet flushing scares her even more.

But the girls all checked out just fine. Becca's iron level is back up in the normal range so we're out of the woods on anemia for now. I was starting to think her levels were low again, because I think the child would nap all afternoon long if someone didn't wake her up. Heights and weights look good, all in the 50-90% range. Becca is still our tallest, and has about an inch over Emma and closer to 2 over Julie. Head circumferences were high again ... still. Becca and Emma were at least on the chart (though I don't think the girls were still enough to get great readings), but Julie was completely off the chart. Her measurements are leveling out, so the doctor is not worried unless they start accelerating. Big heads just run in the family. I love hats, but have a very hard time finding anything that fits.

Daycare called me on Wednesday and said that Julie had a stomach bug, so I had to go get her. And with the way drop offs have been going in the morning, I decided it would actually be easier to get all three of them. (Who would have thought that would be the easy solution?). Julie was acting just fine and eating just fine, but apparently the rule is that after 3 loose poops, you have to go home. (How have we been in daycare for 16 months without me knowing this was a rule?) So I kept her home on Thursday, but she was totally fine. We already had her checkup scheduled for that day, and the doctor wasn't too concerned at this point either. It's amazing how fast we've gone from "first kid" syndrome to "second and third kid" syndrome. So we sent her back to daycare on Friday and took two cars to work to hedge our bets, but they didn't call.

I took Julie out to lunch after her doctor's appointment. I told her she's going to have to do less dancing and more coughing to get a sick day in the future. (Greg kept calling her "Bueller")




The weather finally seems to be a bit more bearable. It was comfortable up in the mountains last weekend when we were picking apples, and the rest of the week was in the upper 80s to low 90s, and less humid. After Emma and Becca's checkup on Tuesday, we were home early enough to go for a walk before dinner. So nice. I'm really looking forward to being outside more. After picking up all 3 of them when Julie was "sick", I took all 3 of them for a walk in the triple stroller. I did have to call Greg to ask where the pump was since the tires were flat. "Um, I think it's attached to the frame of the stroller.". "Oh yeah. Look at that.". And I honestly think the triple jogging stroller is easier to push than the double regular stroller. I mean, cornering is easier with the double, but going up hill is easier in the triple, even with the extra 25 pounds. Going up hill with the double just makes me feel like I am standing still. And Wednesday was the first day I made it over 10,000 steps on a non-gym day! And that's even without counting my up-hill-both-ways-triplet-stroller-pushing-steps double. :)

Have I mentioned lately that I can't wait for the cooler weather?

We went out to dinner on Friday to a Panera we've been to before only to find out that they are down to two high chairs - they used to have four. The girls were all wound up and extra special crazy on Friday, so it was a really tough call between dragging them out of there and back into and out of the car again, or eating with someone sitting on our lap. We opted to stay, and it wasn't a total catastrophe. Becca sat on Greg's lap and was fine - I think she is the only one of the three that could sit through a meal on someone's lap and not run away. I think I mentioned we've been working on spoons with the girls. Well, we got them mac and cheese and fed them off some plastic spoons. After a bite or two, Emma managed to snap the handle off the spoon. I'm just glad she didn't hurt herself. And we made her use the metal spoon after that.

I took Becca to her last swim lesson on Saturday morning. I'm really going to miss the time out alone with her. And she really seemed to be starting to actually enjoy bein in the pool. She finally started kicking this adorable little frog kick on both her back and her belly, and she's strong! She was also splashing more and just bouncing around. She still loves to sit on the edge of the pool and fall in, but didn't like standing and jumping in. If I stand her up on the edge, she just sits down. At the end, I was laying on my back and pushing off the wall. She loves that, and this week started standing on my belly and "surfing" while I was pushing off the wall. It's really been a lot of fun.

Becca has been waking up at about 5am lately, and then waking Emma up before we can get in there. And at that point, you can't just take Bex and leave Emma. But if we bring both of them to our bed, they think it's play time (or, destroy mommy's book and then scream your head off when she takes it away time). I think we lasted until 5:30 on Saturday morning before I got fed up enough to take them downstairs ... and turn on Nick Jr. Yup. Mom of the Year. And can I just say... for the number of times they've actually watched tv (I think I could count on my fingers), why on earth am I seeing repeats???

I had a Girls Night Out with some coworkers on Saturday night, so Greg kept the girls. It was a good break for me, to talk to other adults, and not talk about work.

Sunday was pretty lazy, but we did get a family walk in. I made a big pan of lasagna with some sauce my mom made while she was here. Well, I thought it was a big pan. I was mind of surprised to see that we put away half of it. At least we'll get one more meal from it. I'm starting to think that precooking the noodles is the way to go. It's not that much more work, and the no-precook noodles were a bit chewy.

We were all totally spoiled last week with my parents here - the girls got lots of attention, Greg and I got some much needed sleep, and my dad completely overhauled our garage, including building us a massive shelf over the garage door. Starting with this week's Monday morning daycare drop off where all 3 of the girls were just screaming, we're all going through our post vacation slump. We're all cranky, irritable, and feeling overwhelmed again.

The girls were each supposed to get a day to stay home with Grandma and Grandpa during the week, but Becca was running a fever on Thursday morning, which was supposed to be Emma's day, so poor Em missed out. And Becca's fever was gone by 10 am.

My dad got some great pictures of the girls during the week. I wish mine came out this good. They're straight out of camera.










They are *still* trying to pull the pacifier out of one of my Cabbage Patch dolls.



Reading to the animals on her "sick" day. (That white chair is our "thinking" chair. It has already become a toy.)


What's she reading? Why, Rachel Ray of course.


Everyone stayed home on Friday because my cousin and aunt and their husbands came for a visit. I hadn't seen them in years... It may have been more than 10 years. It was so good to see them and start catching up with them. The girls put on quite the show and were just eating up all the attention. We all went out for barbeque for dinner, and the girls inhaled some banana pudding.
Everybody


Julie in the car on the way to BBQ. She's got her handles.


Becca meditating.


Becca got hungry.


Em


I took Becca swimming again on Saturday, and she was really liking it. She started kicking her legs a little bit, but more than anything, she just loves to sit on the edge and fall in. At the end, I was also holding her while I was on my back and pushing off the wall, and she loved that, too. I can't believe this week is our last lesson. Greg is going to take Julie starting in September, and I'm going to start taking Emma to the pool maybe in the afternoons. Maybe later this year we can all go to the pool together.

Saturday was just a really gray, dark kind of day. We just lazed around the house. I took some pictures of the girls being wacky. They love blankets right now, and love to spread them out on the floor and then stand or sit on them. With free reign of the kitchen, they started pulling blankets in there and we played camping.

Crazy Em


Sweet Em


We matched... not intentionally. :)


Emma started the camping thing.



Em and Becca laying down




Greg and I were going to go out on a date on Saturday night, but I was just feeling completely lazy. Instead, we all went out for pizza, and of course the music man was there. The girls loved it, though, and were dancing again. It was a really nice night out with everyone again.

Julie dancing to the music.




Emma enjoyed her pizza ... a lot.

Becca enjoyed hers, too.

Becca having a grand old time.

More dancing.

Daddy's nose


On Sunday, we packed in all sorts of fun. We went to the park in the morning, and it was hot. We were dripping in sweat. You can see the girls' rosy cheeks, too.

Miss J

E & R in the swings with Grandma

Julie helping Grandma push Becca

And giving Emma a push, too.

Becca taking a breather

E sliding

Had to share some of my dad's amazing butterfly photos, too.



Despite the heat, we also went apple picking on Sunday. It was still warm, but much more bearable up in the mountains. The girls had a blast.

First wagon ride

J & Dad

R, E, J

Picking apples with Grandpa

Julie with an apple. Right before she said "ball" and threw it on the ground.

So, Becca decided she wanted to pull the wagon. And I was totally shocked she was able to pull it.

And then Emma decided SHE was going to pull. And didn't want any help. Grandma managed to sneak in there, though.