Just in the (St.) Nick of time

We made it out of London just in time. There has been horrible fog in London that started the day after we left and tons of flights out of Heathrow have been cancelled. It would really stink to be stuck in Heathrow with lots of cranky holiday travellers.

We're at Amma and Afi's house have loads of fun and seeing old friends. Anna couldn't be happier -- lots of attention and a Christmas tree with a number of ornaments to rearrange.

Christmas came early!

I just found out that the grant for my work has come through! Hurray!!!!

P.S. We're off tomorrow morning to spent Christmas with Amma and Afi in DC. 8 hours on an airplane with Anna and Elsa (and Carlos). Fingers crossed that we arrive in DC with our sanity intact.

9 Months ...

and sitting pretty. Elsa still doesn't seem interested in crawling. She just wants to stand or scoot around in circles on her bottom.

Am I in Kansas??

A tornado touched down in northwest London this morning. Yup, you read correctly, a freakin' tornado! What on earth is going on? Thankfully, only a few injuries and no fatalities. By the way, I'm in southwest London, so just some really really crazy weather here this morning (torrential rain, hail, thunder, lightning and whiplash-inducing winds).

By the way, I just looked at the earlier post. When I said that Anna was a little star in her Christmas show, I meant that she was a little star like in the sky rather than the star of the show. Of course, I thought she was a star, but the reality is that Anna was a bit overwhelmed with so many people watching the show. She had her back to the audience a good bit of the time. I got a number of pictures of the back of her head.

Three

Miss Anna is 3 years old as of Monday. What a busy week we've had!

Sunday: Anna's birthday party. Her friends (and their parents) came over for a lunch-time party. They all had fun decorating paper crowns with stickers, and eating potato chips (who knew that Kettle chips can keep six 3 year olds quiet for 30 minutes!!).

Monday: Anna's birthday and observation day at her gymnastics class. Carlos took the day off of work and he was able to spend some extra time with the birthday girl. We spent 45 minutes laughing at observation day at her gymnastics class. There is a little girl named Olivia in Anna's class that is very taken with her. She's one of those little girls that has the mother hen instinct, and Anna is her little chick. She always wants to hold Anna's hand and help her with the activities. Anna doesn't seem to mind, but a couple of times it looked like she'd had enough.

Wednesday: Christmas concert at Anna's school. Anna was a little star in her school's Christmas concert. The whole thing was super cute, but I'm not not interesting for anyone who doesn't have a child in that school.

Phew. Now I need to get ready for a meeting on Saturday with the organization I work for. Hopefully, I should find out if the grant has come through that would allow my job to be expanded and paid! Woohoo. Fingers crossed.

Waiter, there's a fly in my soup, or

in Anna's case, "Mamma, there's a stegasaurous in my Cheerios." Pause, then she added, with an explanatory tone, "a dinosaur." Glad that Anna thinks her mother is a little slow.

All I can say is, way to go for her nursery school. Her teachers are teaching her so many new things. Some mornings, they have a whole collection of plastic dinosaurs out for the kids to play with, and Anna must have learned some the names. She's also started correcting me when I say "yea" instead of "yes" (which I do all the time).

By the way, there wasn't a stegasaurous, or any other kind of dinosaur, in her Cheerios.

We had a good night with Elsa last night, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed for tonight.

8 Months (already?!?), Breakthrough #2 & Anna's New Friend

Elsa has reached the 8 month mark (still no crawling, but she stands like a champ). On one of the pictures you can get a look at the first tooth. Tooth #2 has just broken through, and Elsa is finally starting sleep better.

Miss Anna has made a new friend at school. She informed me on Friday that she played with "Julie-fish" at school today. Turns out that "Julie-fish" is called Julius by his mother and father.

Breakthrough!

Elsa's first tooth has finally made its long-awaited appearance! Hurray! Maybe I'll get some sleep tonight. Hey, I'm ever the optimist.

Random thoughts

• Will my stomach ever stop feeling like a squishy marshmallow?
• Will Elsa ever become a good sleeper again? (please, little tooth, just come out already)
• Am a scarring Anna forever by reading silly fairy tales for her? (she is currently obsessed with Cinderella and Rapunzel; it is the "and she married the prince and lived happily ever after" bit that worries me)
  
• Will Carlos be home for more than two days at a time? (I think the answer to that is no. At least not until Christmas.)

By the way, no trick or treaters. That means I'm left with lots of candy. Oh dear.

It is the simple things

There are small things that just can make one's day. For instance, I just finished folding some dry laundry. The key word here, folks, is dry. Yes, I have a dryer!! Most people wouldn't get too excited about having a dryer, but I haven't had one (or one that worked properly) since August 2003. The lovely Bosch dryer arrived today, and I wasted no time setting it up. Dry clothes in under an hour -- woohoo. At our last house, we had a horrid contraption known as a washer/dryer. Basically, that means the machine neither washes your clothes very well, nor dries them very well. Talk about frustration. I can't wait to wash my towels and have them be all soft and fluffy. I realize it isn't very environmentally friendly of me to get so excited about something that uses up so much energy, but London just is not a dry enough place to hang out your laundry to dry.

Enough about that.

Elsa is still working on getting over her stuffy nose. Part of the problem seems to be that she's working on her two first teeth and I remember that teething always gave Anna a runny nose. Maybe the same is happening to the Chubster. She really seems rather miserable. Poor little one.

Other simple things that make me happy:
- hot, milky tea on a rainy day
- biting into the perfect apple - crispy, juicy and a bit tart (rather than mealy, dry and sweet - yuck)
- when Anna and Elsa sleep until 8:30 (this doesn't happen very often)
- Elsa's bear hugs
- reading bedtime stories with Anna

I wonder if I'll get any trick-or-treaters tomorrow?

Happy Halloween ... early

We went to a Halloween party today. Not much exciting to report from the party, but here are some pics of the girls.

Stuffy

Minus Carlos, we've all got colds at the moment. I feel like my head has been stuffed full of cotton balls (or cotton wool as people say here). Anna had a tremendous amount of energy today despite the fact she had a torrent of snot flowing out of her poor red nostrils. She ended the day by jumping in her bed like a maniac for 10 minutes. I got exhausted just watching her. Elsa is also all boogery -- probably from the fact that Anna is always touching her. She was not quite as energetic as Anna today, but still pretty feisty. Elsa really really wants to crawl, but all she can manage to do is push herself backwards. I don't think that's going to cut it for her.

Executive Summary

With the new house, Anna starting school, Carlos traveling constantly and me trying to work on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I just can't keep up!

House: Loving the new house, but the 50 steps from top to bottom are literally kicking my butt. We've still got a bit of work to do on it, and now have a bit more after a pipe burst in the ceiling of our family room while my mom was visiting.

Carlos: He's actually in London this week. Poor guy has been traveling like it was going out of style.

Anna: She's a hoot. Ever since she started school, she's full of funny things. The other day, while my mom was visiting, she went upstairs to get something from her room, and told us: "You stay here people". !?!?

Elsa: Now 7 months and 20 lbs. Very juicy and delicious. The only problem is that she's teething and reaching the separation anxiety phase so she's not sleeping all that well. It stinks to go from having a good sleeper to a bad sleeper. I really hope this phase passes quickly.

More details and photos to follow!

Boo Hoo Day Two

Day two of nursery school didn't go too well. I got a call at about 11 am (school is from 9:30 to 12:30 every day) from one of Anna's teachers asking me to come and pick her up early. About an hour after I dropped her off, she started crying and nothing would settle her down. What happened??? Yesterday she was fine, no tears. Today, it was the end of the world. Que pasa Anna?

Here are some other recent pics of the girls.

First day of school & a 6 month old Garbanza

I’ve been MIA for the last month or so, haven’t I? Well, the good news is that we’re closing on our house the day after tomorrow – Friday. Woohoo! So, next week is moving week. Yikes. Moving has been crazy pre-children; it was crazy when we moved to London with Anna, and now I have no idea what to expect with Anna and Elsa. Fingers crossed all goes well.

Today was Miss Anna’s first day of nursery school. All went well. No tears. Thankfully, two of Anna’s friends from playgroup are in the class. When it was time for me to go, Anna was holding hands with her friend Riley as they went off to the play-dough table. It was very cute. All the children at Anna’s nursery school wear smocks at school, and it was adorable to see all the little ones running around in their different colored smocks (Anna’s is yellow). Anna wouldn’t pose for me in her “first day of school” outfit so I had to settle for a picture of her and Elsa in the stroller as we were heading out the door. Hopefully, she’ll pose for me in her smock tomorrow.

Miss Elsa is six months old! Unbelievable how fast she has grown. Suddenly, she’s grabbing everything that comes near her, and chatting all the time. I can see her attempting to start crawling, but we’re not there yet. Her latest developments are two-fold. First, we’ve discovered that Elsa has a bit of a dairy intolerance. I noticed after starting her on solids that she was really itchy and scratching her skin very badly. For a while, it looked like I had dropped her in a rose bush; she had scratches all over her legs and arms. I couldn’t figure out what was going on. After taking her to the doctor, we guessed that she had developed eczema as a result of her increased intake of dairy through the formula that I was using to mix her cereal. Clearly, the dairy in my diet was only irritating her slightly, but as soon as we introduced formula it was too much for her to handle. So, I found a new formula and stopped eating most dairy. Lo and behold, smooth skin again! Development number 2, Elsa has developed a new move that I’ve called the “I’m so happy to be alive” move. I need to capture it on video. It is one of the greatest things to see. When I lay Elsa down in bed, especially when it is in my bed, she usually starts to do a full body wiggle with arms and legs pumping accompanied by an enormous smile. It just screams out: “I’m just so happy.” It makes you want to eat her up in all her juiciness!

A horse, a potty and a bribe

Have I been duped by a 2⅔ year old?

OK, here comes the inevitable potty training story.

Anna starts nursery school next month, and she needs to be potty trained before she starts. When I first started thinking about it I thought I had all the time in the world. No worries. She’ll be trained in no time. Think again, remembering what a headstrong child Miss Anna can be. Now we’re down to a month before school starts, and the clock is ticking (not to mention all the other things going on – i.e., we’re probably moving house around the same time as she starts school).

I decided the key to potty training was good, old fashioned bribery. Anna and I went out to the toy store and made a few purchases. For each successful pee in the potty, she gets several stickers of the Disney Princess variety (will someone please tell me where this obsession comes from – we didn’t have any of the princess paraphernalia in the house, but she’s still obsessed). Then, for her first poo in the potty, she was supposed to get a little, white horse. Last Sunday was the first day that we started potty training in earnest, and Anna spent the whole day without a diaper on (unless she was sleeping). The first pee was a little traumatic for her, but she did it and was over the moon with her princess stickers. Then, we talked about what she would get if she did a poo in the potty (the white horse). A little while later, she just sat down on the potty and pooed like there was nothing to it. As soon as she finished she said: “Have the white horsey”. I was feeling really excited that everything was going so well and Anna seemed to be getting the hang of using the potty lickety split. No, she was getting the hang of how bribery works. Once she got the horse, she lost all interest in pooing in the potty. Pees are still exciting because she still gets the princess stickers when she does those, but nothing was happening on the poo front. So, as if I didn’t learn my lesson the first time, I found something new to bribe Anna to poo in the potty. Stamps. I should have thought of this earlier. At Anna’s gymnastics class, the teacher gives them each a stamp on the back of the hand at the end of the class for a job well done. The kids just love getting the stamp. Now when Anna poos she gets a stamp on the back of her hand. It worked like a charm today. Ah, the power of the stamp.

Have you ever looked back at how you were when you were a kid, and thought: “Boy, I really hope my kids don’t do this to me.” This whole horse business reminded me of an incident when I was little and my dad tried bribing me to encourage positive behavior. I think I was about 8 or 9, and my dad thought it would be fun if I would go jogging with him on a regular basis. To encourage me to go with him, he told me that if I ran a mile, he’d buy me a new pair of running shoes and a new track suit. Anna’s princess obsession pales in comparison with my love affair with shoes. Off my dad and I went to our local YMCA. We went to the little track there, and 6 laps around the track equals a mile. I started running and with the rhythm of my running, I heard in my head: “new shoes, new shoes” in time with my feet hitting the pavement. Six laps later, it was time for my dad to pay up. I still remember the track suit – navy blue with different color satin stripes down the side of the legs and down the sleeves. The new shoes were white running shoes with green stripes. My poor dad never got me out on the track again.

In other news from Old Blighty, Elsa is about to turn 5 months. I gave her some rice cereal yesterday, and she gobbled it up. I think she’s definitely ready to start solids. She’s so big that sometimes I worry that my milk supply just isn’t enough for her. Elsa’s also rolling over from back to front all the time. She’s been rolling for a while, but now it has turned into a crazy compulsion – she can’t not roll over. The problem is that she doesn’t know how to get from her front to her back. So, I constantly have to flip her over.

We’re also in the process of getting a new house, but I can’t write about it because I’m afraid I’m going to jinx the process. Once things are firm, I’ll say more.

Pictures from Iceland

What do you think it means?

The heat is really getting to me. I think it is starting to affect both my conscious and subconscious minds (or what is left of them). Last night I dreamt I was grocery shopping and ran into Carlos Puyol (Barca and Spanish national soccer player) and Nick Rhodes (of Duran Duran fame). The dream wasn't very exciting; I just chatted with them in the store and then I woke up. Puyol and Nick Rhodes, what a combo for my subconscious to cobble together!

Too hot to think

So . . . . hot. Can’t . . . . think. Send . . . . cooler . . . . weather . . . . our . . . . way. Please.

There’s no let up in sight for the heatwave in London right now. Temps are in the 90s and there’s no A/C anywhere. Ick, ick, ick and double ick. I cannot handle this.

We had a wonderful time in Iceland. We just relaxed and hung out with family and friends.

Elsa’s now four months old and still a big girl. I’m not sure exactly how much she weighs now, but I think it is somewhere between 16 and 17 pounds. She’s rolling over now, and loves grabbing her toes.

Anna is still Elsa’s favorite person to look at. She makes Elsa laugh and laugh.

3 Months = smiles and laughter

Elsa turned 3 months on the 12th, and Anna was 2 and 1/2 on the 4th. Elsa just a chubby delight these days. She's constantly smiling and now she's starting to laugh. The catch is most of her laughter occurs in her sleep! Very very funny to see and hear. But, today, Anna's antics got the first real belly laugh out of Elsa while she was awake.

We've just returned from two weeks in Barcelona. It was fantastic to be in the sun and amazing weather -- warm with a nice breeze from the sea. Elsa was baptized while we were there, and Elsa's godmother (the lovely Sheryl) came from DC to spend some time with us in Spain. It was a lot of fun to see her. Now we're off to Iceland to visit my family and introduce Elsa to that clan. It should be lots of fun. More pictures and updates when we return!

Poop

Elsa is a pro when it comes to pooping. I don’t know how she manages it, but she is able to poo sideways out of her diaper about 5 times out of 10. It is amazing. This morning when I went to pick her up out of bed, Elsa gave me a huge grin (that should have been the tip-off), and when I reached down I found her entire right side covered in poo. It had gone all the way down her pant-leg and up her side. And she was happy as a clam. Thankfully, Anna was watching Pinocchio (for the 87th time), and I was able to plop Elsa straight into the bath. It doesn’t seem to matter how snugly I get Elsa's diaper on, she always seems to poo with such force that it gets out.

On the poo note, I’ve been making a somewhat half-hearted attempt to start potty training Anna. So far, she hasn’t grasped that she’s actually supposed to do something in the potty rather than just play around pretending to pee in it. I’m not sure how I’m going to go about getting her out of diapers, but I don’t think I’m going to start in earnest until after we do our traveling in June. Frankly, I’m being a bit lazy, but it seems like it will be so much easier to do traveling with Anna in diapers rather than always having to worry about finding a toilet for her. I think July 1st the diapers will come off and the rugs rolled up, and Anna will simply wear underwear (or streak around as she seems to love to do these days).

Funny Anna expressions:
- Umbrellala
- Still says “Help you” when she means “help me”
- Walking around with her pants at her ankles saying: “Look, I like a penguin!”
- Thanks really much
- Still wishes me a happy Christmas periodically
- Starting her sentences with “Ackshully . . .” is a recent development.
- Informing about different body parts that she possesses: “I got toes!” “I got a bellybutton”, etc. etc.
- “Whehyayou?” [where are you?] she calls when she’s lost something. It comes out as one word.
- Finally, her favorite game in recent days has been the “how are you today” game. She gets her little play stroller out and walks with it between the living room and kitchen. Then she comes up to me wherever I am and says “Hello mama, how are you today?” I reply “Fine thank you. How are you today, Anna?” She says, “Ok, bye, see you next week.” And she goes off with her stroller into the next room. About 30 seconds pass, and Anna comes back in and the previous conversation is repeated, and Anna leaves. Another 30 seconds pass, and Anna’s back. And again, and again, and again. I don’t know how many times it happens, but I think Anna does this at least 30 times before she gets tired of the game. It is like the “Groundhog Day” of games.

Two Months

Elsa has hit the two month mark -- time flies so fast! She is doing really well. We just had her two month check up (and shots), and she’s a huge baby. 15.5 pounds (6 kg) and 60 cm (25 inches). As you can imagine, she’s turning into a wonderfully chubby baby. She’s also smiling at everyone these days and has recently discovered her hands. I can’t seem to capture a picture of Elsa in full smile mode; I always seem to catch the beginning or end, but I did capture a picture of her staring at her fist. She also manages to get her hand into her mouth periodically and she relishes the chance to suck on it!

Anna continues to do well with Elsa. She loves giving her little sister kisses although some are not as gentle as I would like. Nevertheless, Anna likes having Elsa around and hasn’t exhibited any aggression towards her. Any jealousy she feels seems to manifest itself against me rather than Elsa which isn’t a problem in my book.
I’m starting to get the hang of managing two girls. It is definitely challenging at times, especially when I need to do Anna’s bedtime by myself. Elsa seems to be a pretty relaxed baby, as long as she’s fed at regular intervals! She’s been great at night – sleeping through the night since about 4 weeks! I hope haven’t jinxed this by writing about it, but it helps so much to get an uninterrupted night’s sleep.

Easter Pics

More Pictures

Two Weeks

Elsa was two weeks old on Sunday. She is still an eating machine, and her cheeks are starting to get nice and chubby. Anna got to hold Elsa for the first time yesterday, and she thought it was really great. Actually, I had a hard time getting Anna to let go. It has been nice to see Anna show Elsa some more interest. She really likes giving her little sister kisses (which might be why Elsa has a stuffed nose at the moment).

Anna has been a real chatterbox lately, and yesterday she started calling everyone "honey". I don't know where that came from, but it's pretty funny to hear. She likes to help put clothes in the washing "mean" -- and now having Elsa, there is always plenty to wash in the "mean".

Garbanza!!!!

Just in the nick of time! Miss Garbanza, now known as Elsa Lind Reyes, arrived at 4:35 am on March 12th -- the day before her scheduled eviction by c-section. I went into labor on my own (finally) in the early hours of the morning and Elsa was born only about an hour after we arrived at the hospital. She was definitely in a rush to get out! Elsa was 7 lbs 15 oz (3.6 kg) and 20 inches (51 cm). Elsa and I are doing very well -- we went home two days after she was born. I have to say the recovery has been so much easier than it was with a c-section.

Elsa and Anna have been keeping me busy since I got home. Elsa has an enormous appetite! She never lost weight after birth -- she's only gained. It has been quite an effort to keep up with her feeding demands. Anna has been pretty good with the new member of our household, but I think she's still trying to come to terms with the new order of things. Thankfully, my mom is here to lavish extra attention on Anna to help with the transition. She has been a real lifesaver (as usual).

More pictures will be posted soon!

Fashionably Late

The Garbanza has been officially served her eviction notice. If she doesn't make an appearance on her own by Monday afternoon, she'll make her way out by c-section. I have tried pretty much everything to get labor going -- long walks, acupuncture, reflexology, raspberry leaf tea, really spicy food, etc., etc. Nothing seems to have any effect. I was hoping not to have to have another c-section, but it is looking like that is the way I'm going to have to go. Actually, I'm feeling pretty good about the decision; I feel like I've done everything I can to avoid it and this is just the way I'm going to have to go.

I'm feeling the same intense curiousity to meet Miss Garbanza as I did at the end of my pregnancy with Anna. I cannot wait to meet this little person who has been kicking away inside of me. I can't wait to see what she looks like, what she sounds like, what her personality is like (you'd be amazed how quickly a baby's personality shows through -- Anna's was clear within a few hours of her birth).

My mom has been here for about 2 weeks, and she's going to stay to the end of the month. It is fantastic to have her here. However, I think she must be getting bored of waiting for the baby's arrival. About 2 weeks ago, it looked like labor was imminent and now we're still waiting. Nevertheless, Anna is having lots of fun with her Amma.

Anna seems excited about the arrival of her baby sister. She has decided to become her own stylist -- it is no longer acceptable for me to pick out her clothes for her. We've had some pretty interesting combinations recently. Anna is obsessed with wearing dresses, and ideally she'd like to wear the same one every day. If her favorite dress isn't available, generally she'll want to wear something that is completely inappropriate for the weather (i.e., a summer dress when it is windy, raining and freezing outside).

Stay tuned for baby news!

From Glowing to Overflowing

The final days of pregnancy have arrived at last! Ugh. I’ve started to resemble a bipedal whale.

I’ve discovered that a shift occurs in people’s attitudes toward pregnant women at some point during the last few weeks before the baby is born. Gone are the comments about how you have that pregnancy glow about you. In the last week or two, suddenly perfect strangers see fit to comment on your girth. “Wow, you look like you’re ready to pop!” “Oh boy, I hope you don’t go into labor here!” I just don’t understand these comments. I think you can tell from the look on my face when I’m waddling around town that I am fully aware my current physical state and wouldn’t care to be reminded of it by random passers-by.

I spent all of yesterday going through Anna’s old baby clothes, sorting things out for the Garbanza. It was a bit of a trip down memory lane. Newborn sized clothes are so unbelievably small!

Anna is continuing to surprise me with certain sentences that seem to come out of nowhere. Yesterday, she walked up to me and said, “Hey, what’s going on?” She said it as if it was the most normal thing the world. I don’t know where she learned it, but it cracked me up. She also continues to refer to herself in the third person. This becomes most evident when she’s claiming ownership over things – “That’s Anna’s!” is a phrase we hear quite often these days.

Tippy Toes

Has Anna gotten her mother’s ballerina bug already? It seems that Anna has discovered ballerinas and has taken to running around on her tippy toes (while shouting “ballerina! ballerina! ballerina!”) – her version of how a ballerina dances. I wonder how much she’ll like it once she finds out that ballerinas don’t generally shout at the top of their lungs while they dance. I guess I need to start looking for ballet classes for her.

Still counting the days till the Garbanza’s due date. My bump is getting enormous. It has created quite a convenient crumb-catcher, but the problem is that often I forget to look down after I’ve eaten and end up walking around for the rest of the day with some variety of crumbs on top of my belly.

Happy New Year

Hmm, a month since my last post – not a good track record. Happy New Year everyone!

2006 has gotten off to a busy start. After hosting my family for Christmas (which was loads of fun; the pictures are from their visit), we prepared for the arrival of the “Ladies”. The Ladies are my oldest friends, and all of them came for a visit during MLK weekend. What a treat! The weekend was amazing; we don’t all get a chance to get together very often so we thoroughly enjoyed our time together. Somehow, whenever we’re together, I feel like we revert to 6th grade slumber party antics. Although we were missing the Skittles for breakfast. Anna also loved having all of the Ladies around and was asking about them for days after they left. By the way, we saw a show called “Pam Ann: Sky’s the Limit”. It has just finished its run in London, and I think she’s going to take it on tour later this year. It was hilarious; I can’t remember the last time I laughed so much. If you get a chance, go see it.

Anna has been a small ball of energy lately. Thankfully, she is taking her afternoon nap right now, but for the last week or so I have had very little luck getting her to sleep in the afternoon. She’ll basically jump around in her crib for an hour (or more) and resolutely refuse to sleep or even rest a little. The days without naps are torture for me. I really need the downtime these days. My energy levels have been inversely proportionate to Anna’s. Six weeks to go until the Garbanza is due, and between her constant kicking and Anna, I have no energy to spare. My days are now spent thinking of ways to tire Anna out. Her new favorite activity is “cliping” (i.e., to clipe), otherwise knowing as climbing. She is talking a ton lately, but I worry that I’m the only one who understands what she’s saying. We started gymnastics two weeks ago, and she adores the class. She gets to jump on a trampoline and play around in a big pit filled with foam blocks.