New Look!

Enjoy the new look for Christmas!

This is wrong!

This has absolutely nothing to do with me or the kids....but it's so wrong!

Barry Manilow has some new CD - Greatest Love Songs of the 80's. Don't get me wrong, I love Barry - Copacabana is one of my favorite songs and I've seen him in concert. But leave Rick Astley's song alone! I loved him back in the day!

Out of The Mouths of Babes...

So I came downstairs (where our computer desk is) and found all of the papers, pens and various desk things on the floor. The desk was cleaner than I've seen in a few weeks.

I casually asked the kids who "cleaned" and Gemma spoke up.
She said, "The computer said if I clean the top of the desk it would work faster."

I smiled and thanked her. I didn't have the heart to tell her that it was supposed to be the desktop. I love my little girl!

We Must Be On The Right Track

So last night was Grandpa's birthday and we decided to bring Chinese food over for dinner. Since Spencer is extremely picky, David gave him a choice of 3 fast-food restaurants and he chose McDonald's...(what a shock). Here is the conversation that followed:

Spencer (in a very polite tone) : "Daddy, can I get a happy meal?"
David: "No, Spencer. It wouldn't be fair to Gemma since she is eating Chinese food."
Spencer (in a very sweet voice) : "OK."
Gemma: "That's OK, daddy. Spencer is a good brother, he can have a toy."

David and I looked at each other and smiled. We must be doing something right!

Spencer ended up getting the happy meal!

Ferberized!

I haven't talked about it much in my blog, but Gianna has been sleeping like crap since February. Basically, once we got home from our vacation to Puerto Rico, she went from being a so-so sleeper to waking up 2,3,4 sometimes 5 times a night. Because I'm home during the day and I'm still nursing, I would be the one to get up with her 90% of the time. Well, a few weeks ago David had told me he couldn't take it anymore. His sleep was suffering, I was a total crabby pants and always exhausted and Gianna was kinda cranky too. We were all at the end of our ropes.

David did some research and found a book by Dr. Richard Ferber. I know his method is controversial, but the truth is in the pudding. We had one difficult night (actually David did. I slept on the couch because I couldn't do it). Since that night, we put Gianna in her crib AWAKE at bedtime without her CRYING. Some nights she'll wake for a diaper change, but go right back to sleep. On average, she is sleeping 9 to 10 hours at night. She takes a 30 minute nap in the morning and then sleeps almost 2 hours in the afternoon.

It's so nice not to dread bedtime anymore. I truly enjoy putting her to bed now, it's a very sweet time that she and I spend together. Part of me wishes we would have done this a few months ago, but either way I'm very thankful that I have a baby that FINALLY sleeps through the night!!!!

Barbie and Legos

Today the children and I ventured to the Mall of America to see Barbie. The MOA is not one of my favorite places and then to take 3 kids by myself there on a Saturday....what was I thinking when I told Gemma we could go??? Truth be told, the day went much better than I anticipated. Spencer was less than thrilled with this idea, but I told him we would stop by Lego Land and that seemed to help the situation.

We arrived at the mall around 11:10 and got an awesome parking spot right by the door. Gemma and Spencer were so funny, they kept wondering which car was Barbie's! (I didn't see any pink convertibles in the lot) It took us 30 minutes to find Barbie's location - and then we stood in line for only 5 minutes. Gemma had drawn a Christmas picture for Barbie, but at the last minute decided not to give it to her. I think she was nervous. Gemma talked to Barbie, got her autograph and then they posed for a photo. After we left the area, Gemma kept saying, "I can't believe I talked to Barbie!" It was pretty cute.

After our quick Barbie visit, we headed over to Lego Land. Gemma and Spencer had a blast. It was amazing to see so many kids playing in such a crowded space and not see any arguing or fighting! I really wish we could have stayed longer, but Gianna was starting to get restless and hungry for lunch.

Here are Spencer and Gemma racing the lego cars they made.

After playing, we went to lunch at the food court. The tables were packed, so I found a bench in front of a t-shirt shop for the kids and I to sit and eat lunch. You wouldn't believe who we ran into....



All in all - this was a good day. We were in the car and on the road by 1:15 and I had Gianna down for a nap by 2pm. I was asleep by 2:30!!!

13 months 2 weeks old

Gianna at 13 1/2 months old...being silly with daddy.

It dawned on me last night that Gianna is now 13 months and 2 weeks old. Not a big deal to most people - just me. But the real significance of 13 months 2 weeks is....Gemma was that age when Spencer was born. I look at Gianna and see how much time and energy is required and then I think back to when Spencer was born. Oh My Gosh! How did we do it? I guess it doesn't matter; but to think of having two babies again.....

Gemma at 13 1/2 months - the day we came home from the hospital with Spencer.

This is the day we brought Spencer home. Gemma loved that little boy from the moment he arrived.

Here I am with my first 2 precious babies. I think I still look just as exhausted now as I did 6 years ago!

You can't tell from Spencer's expression - but they really are the best of friends!

My New Couch!!!!

My new couch arrived!! I love, love, love it!!!! It's red and it's leather and it's gorgeous!!!! It looks great up against the chocolaty brown walls!
Spencer looks too cute with the remote. I'll have to remember to hide it!

I'll stop calling it my couch now.

Trick or Treat Part 2

We had a great Halloween...the weather was perfect and the kids were very excited. I had this great idea to make homemade pizza - that way it would be quick, easy and something fun since Gemma and Spencer could help. Well, when the kids came home from school and I shared my great idea, they didn't return the enthusiasm. Needless to say - I made the pizza by myself. All I can say is...I TRIED!!

Here is Gianna around lunch time - I love her smile. You can almost see the giddiness in her expression!
This is the only picture of Gemma and Spencer - and it's fuzzy!!!! I don't know what I was thinking!!!! Gianna was the cutest fairy ever and Spencer looked so adorable with his fake muscles in his PowerRanger costume!

Gianna spent most of the evening in Daddy's arms. There really wasn't a need to send her door to door. I was amazed at how many people had babies and were carrying them to the door for candy. BUY YOUR OWN #*$& CANDY!!!!

This is the one time the butterfly got away....

And now we are calling it a night...if you look really hard, you can see Spencer running ahead. The kids had a lot of fun, (David and I did too!)