Sisterly Moment

They really do love each other. Lucia is delighted when Rhea wakes up from her naps, and Rhea always lights up when she catches a glimpse of Lucia flitting into the room. Their favorite game is when Lucia wants Rhea to "catch" her. So she runs away, and I run after her carrying Rhea infront of me. They both giggle like there's nothing better. :-)

Brownies

Lucia helped me make brownies for small group on Wednesday. Do you think she enjoyed it?

What in the World...

... is SO difficult about taking a nap?!?!?!? Argh! If I can lie down and fall asleep within minutes, why can't (won't) Lucia? She just called me into her room to inform me that she wanted to get up (and it's not even 2:30), and when I told her "no", her world shattered. Whereas my world shatters when my kids tell me I have to get up.

Other tidbits from my afternoon from Hades:
-I have a splitting tooth/jaw ache (is it really my tooth, or am I taking my naps with clenched jaws because I keep hearing Lucia over the monitor in my subconscious?)
-Rhea was up from 1:00 until 4:45 - about 2 hours past her normal time to go back down, which resulted in non-stop screeching at the top of her lungs ALL AFTERNOON
-Lucia didn't sleep (as mentioned above), and that despite having gone to bed way too late due to small group last night. Result, an overtired 2-year-old who is constantly asking WAY too many questions (and when I said, "Ok, now stop asking any more questions. All done with questions." she responded innocently, "Why MOM? Why you say 'no more questions'? Why you say dat?") Argh!
-Any little thing that wasn't going as Lucia wanted it to ... (example: during my several attempts at putting Rhea down, Lucia would eventually come in the room and want to stand RIGHT BY the crib or ask me more questions in the LOUDEST whispering voice she could muster up. If I tried to quietly push her out of the room, she would be hurt to the core and melt down, of course RIGHT IN THE DOORWAY. Needless to say, Rhea wasn't going down.) ... resulted in a major melt-down. Other example: while I was putting Rhea down (read... attempting to put...), my phone rang and Lucia answered it. I heard her talking to someone ("Hi!" ... "What's your name?" ... "Rhea's trying to sleep." ... "Yeah!" ... "bla bla bla!!" ... "yeah!", so I tried to sneak out to see who was on the phone, and when I told Lucia it was my turn to talk on the phone, "could you please give Mama the phone?", another melt-down ensued and she very upsetly told me that she wasn't done talking to Miss Sarah (a friend from church) yet and "please, Mama, can I talk to Miss Sarah?", accompanied by huge and innumerable crocodile tears. I try to end the conversation and comfort Lucia and explain to her that it's MY phone and it was appropriate for her to hand it over, when Rhea starts crying again.
- I try to contact 3 dentists in the area to see when I can come in for an appointment, only to learn that they either close at noon on Fridays, or are at an all day dental conference on Friday, February 26th, or "I'm sorry we can't answer the phone right now." All this while Rhea is screeching and Lucia is crying or asking questions. I guess it's good nobody answered, because if they had, I probably wouldn't have been able to understand a word they said.
- When I finally succeed in putting Rhea down, I come out to Lucia running towards me bow-leggedly, "Mama, Mama, I went peepee in my pants!", and her legs are wet down to her shoes. And this after she's been accident-free for how many MONTHS?! And can now unbutton all her pants by herself, sits on the potty without the potty seat, and insists on wiping herself?! I asked, "Lucia, WHY didn't you go peepee in the toilet?!?!" ... Response: "Because I went peepee in my pants." Oh. Right.
- Needless to say, she's now in the bathtub, Rhea's sleeping, and David just called telling me he's 15 minutes from being home. Hallelujah. The Moment I've been waiting for ALL afternoon. Aaaaaah.

P.S. I'm sure there are several things I forgot to mention.

My Little Gourmet

Rhea is turning into a true gourmet. She's enjoyed several sweet potato fries, some baguette this morning already, and generally tries to get the most flavor out of every bite by following up whatever goo I'm feeding her by sticking her thumb into her mouth and sucking profusely. :-) See video below...

Also, she enjoys spending time in her jumperoo. :-)

Sitting Up!

So Rhea has finally reached another milestone at 6.5 months! She is sitting up (sort of) all on her own! I'm still pretty vigilant, of course, and she doesn't do too much of it yet, but with a little help initially she can hold herself up for several seconds. :-) (See the picture at the bottom, because I still haven't mastered the order in which to upload pictures on this thing.)

Lucia helped me sort all of our baby clothes yesterday, and was delighted to dress her baby in many different outfits over the course of our project. I eventually gave up and finished after the girls were in bed... some things are just easier and faster to do without their help. Or... should I say, all things?!


Here are the boxes waiting to be opened, sorted, combined and put away again. Rhea is patiently waiting for the fun to begin.

Happily entertaining herself in the jumperoo.

And, drumroll please... sitting up "all buyer sowf", as Lucia would say!

Matching Boots!

I got some matching boots for Lucia and Rhea for next winter on clearance. The cutest little things, and I paid only $5 for each pair. Now... what are the chances that these size 2 feet...
...will fit into these size 6 boots...

...by the end of this year?!? Only time will tell.

Lucia is currently in size 9, and I got her boots in size 11. Still a gamble, but maybe not quite as big of a stretch. I can't wait to post pictures of them in their matching boots... if they ever fit at the same time and in the right season.

Prayer for Cookies

This morning, Lucia and I baked cookies (using a recipe from Aunt Julie), and they turned out great! I told Lucia if she had a good lunch and finished her bowl, she could have a cookie before naptime. She was ready to start into her food when she remembered to pray:
"Thank you, Jesus, that we could bake cookies, thank you for lunch, thank you that we can eat a cookie... *pause* ... that we can eat TWO cookies, ... "(opens one eye and whispers, "Mama, do you want TWO cookies??") :-) I tried not to laugh and said she should finish praying, which she then did ("thank you that Mama could have a good nap today (let's hope), thank you that Rhea is sleeping, Amen.") She got her cookie after lunch, and can have the second one when Papa comes home. See, God does hear our prayers! :-)

Lucia's First Prayer

Lucia just requested a glass of kefir, so I poured each of us one. I downed mine and returned to washing the dishes, while Lucia took one sip, and then spontaneously closed her eyes and said: "Thank you, Jesus, for my kefir, thank you that we can let Papa sleep, thank you for the wind that blows, and thank you that we can eat, and thank you that I can watch Peep's New Friends, and thank you that Mama had a good nap, Amen." Her very first own prayer, and completely unsolicited at that... it was so sweet! Papa is actually next door in the bedroom taking a nap (he just got home from work a bit early because he's not feeling too well and went straight to bed), and though Mama didn't get a "good" nap today (only about 15 minutes before Rhea woke up), Lucia certainly did. :-) That makes all the difference.

Of Giants

So, all of a sudden we have at least two giants living in the house with us. I don't know where they came from or exactly when they arrived, but they're here. One of them is mean, and the other one is nice. Lucia hears the Mean Giant very frequently. Usually at dinner time. She'll whisper, "Mama, I have to tell you something in your ear." *pulls my head closer* "I hear the Mean Giant. He's coming." Sometimes she says he's going to hurt me (though she doesn't seem particularly phased by any of her imagination), sometimes she says he's stuck somewhere. The other day we closed him into the guest bedroom (since he's unable to open the door). Tonight at dinner, she told me again she heard the Mean Giant. I said, "Oh? Where is he?" Her response: "He's in the toilet and can't get out." Her solution to this dilemma was the Nice Giant. He helped the Mean Giant out of the toilet. Thankfully... I can't imagine what we would have done if he had plugged our pipes. (I'm almost too ... hmm, embarrassed? not the right word... to write the end of her quote, but I figure I should capture this part of her imagination too (and I apologize in advance for the impropriety of it). Anyway, I asked Lucia what the Mean Giant was doing in the toilet, and she responded, "He is eating poopies." (sorry. not sure where that came from. again... thankfully the Nice Giant helped him out, so that won't be happening anymore.)

On a completely different note: It's 10:20 and I should go to bed. David has been sleeping for over an hour already - he's not feeling well (we passed our colds on to him, sadly enough), and I'm only still up an typing because he's in the guest bed to avoid hearing Rhea tonight and thus getting interrupted sleep. Poor man needs to have energy to work all day. I, on the other hand, get naps. :-)

Disney on Ice

So... again, here's a catch-up post. :-) I'm not very good at uploading on a more regular basis when the activities take place, so please excuse the random conglomerate of pictures.

Here's David's second birthday treat (I'll upload pictures from the real deal some other time) - we had another little celebration the Monday night after we got home from Chicago (complete with David being served a heaping table spoon of reserved cookie dough with a candle in it... and the look on his face was like it hit the spot :-) I guess you could call chocolate chip cookie dough one of his weaknesses...). I did freeze half of the humongous cookie because it was too tempting just sitting there waiting to be nibbled at.

Lucia greeting Rhea after she woke up from a nap. And yes, if you look closely, you will notice she is wearing gloves. Don't ask me why...

A better view of her gloves. Mismatched and worn for hours. Here she was protesting my tickling her.

And the highlight of this past week: Disney on Ice! Lucia and I were invited to tag along with our friends, Sarah Runyon and her daughter, Kirsten, who is currently Lucia's only and very best friend. :-) They both had a great time, and Lucia especially loved Mickey and Minny and the mice who helped Cinderella with her dress. (She doesn't know the princess stories yet, so all the pretty ladies in dresses eventually looked alike to her...)

Mickey and Minny on ice

A scene from Aladdin - notice Genie in the front

A selection of Dwarves from Snowwhite.

And this was Lucia this morning. She thinks she wants whatever Rhea is getting (or whatever I'm preparing for Rhea), so she asked for a frozen cube of pureed squash. Why would I deny such a request? She delightedly gnawed on it for quite a while (and kept telling me how good it was) and then ate the rest stirred into her tomato soup for lunch.

Birthday Weekend

So we're back from Chicago and David is 27. Lucia and Rhea had loads of fun with their big cousins, and the adults had lots of fun amongst themselves (playing Cities and Knights and Balderdash... Did you know that a zum is a cross between a yak and a cow? And that the movie "Hips, Hips, Hooray" is about two men selling flavored lipstick to a beauty parlor?). It was fun seeing everybody and being able to capitalize on living so much closer to each other now!
Now it's back to the normal routine, and I'm trying to get a handle on the housework that has piled up. Oh the joys (and I'm not entirely sarcastic when I say that - it's good to be home. :) )

Lucia was drawing some letters today and I'm so proud of her! :-) She enjoys scribbling and discovering afterwards (or interpreting) what she drew (or "wrote"), which has developed into "mastering" a couple of letters already.
"M" with no help.

L and U with no help.

Two O's without help - her favorite letter to draw. :-)

"

Off to Chicago!

Just a quick post to say we'll be in Chicago for the weekend, celebrating David's - hold your breath - 27th birthday (!) in Chicago with Mark, Julie and the kids. Lucia is beyond excited that she'll get to pLay with her cousins all weekend (she recently learned to say her "L"s and now very consciously pronounces them in every word). And I need to go take a speed nap because both kids are down! No reason to miss the opportunity. :-)

Lucia wearing Papa's Australian hat. How much cuter can kids get?!

Feeding Pooh some baby cereal (while I was feeding Rhea).

And reading a book to baby sister. Lucia loves entertaining Rhea like this... :-)

Overdue 6 Month Picture (and a few others)

Luci-Maus with her new surprise-sunglasses from Gma and Gpa. They are fabulous! She looks and ... acts... like a celebrity when wearing them. :-)


Here's evidence of the acting part.

Baby Rhea's 6 month milestone picture! She's proud of her achievement and we wish her many more months of laughter, growth, health and now also real food!

Carrot - and enjoying it. :-)

Happenings

So... it's been a while since I last posted, and that's probably because so much has been going on!! I feel like I'm behind, which has kept me from wanting to take the time and catch up the blog. It's finally a quiet evening and so I'll drop a line and then go hang out with my hubby, whose foot is up - event number 1.

- Friday night, David went to play soccer, only to come home saying, "I think I broke my foot." Ugh. Thankfully, event number 2:

- Nadja, my best friend from high school, was here visiting us for the weekend (yay!) from Harvard, so she was able to take David to the ER on Saturday morning for X-rays (revealing it wasn't broken! only... "contused". :-) ) and then Lucia to the library, while I stayed home with Rhea and fixed lunch for everyone. Lucia THOROUGHLY enjoyed having the extra attention and playmate, and it was cute to see how she processed Nadja's speaking German. I told her in advance that Nadja could speak German too, and that Lucia could ask her to read her German books to her. The first two days Lucia probably thought it was too odd that Nadja spoke German, so she safely stuck with English, but by the end, more and more German words started coming out. I'm looking forward to our trip to Germany in April/May to see how long it will take Lucia to switch completely...

-Event number 3: Rhea is now 6 months old, as of today. However, I forgot to take her picture with the number, so I'll have to remember to do that tomorrow and post it. She's working on more teeth, but that doesn't keep her from being a joy to be around. She's a squealer - usually screeching to herself in the bouncy. I can't blame her; if she's not screeching, I usually forget she's there, so she's adapted and now "asks" for my attention. :-)

-Event number 4: We've started Rhea on solid foods. She's averaging 1.5 meals a day, I would guess, ranging from baby cereal, avocado, apple, carrot, and banana. I have a butternut squash sitting here waiting for "processing", but so far banana is by far her least favorite (probably too sweet, taking after her Mama). :-) She's making progress, though, and has even started opening her mouth when she sees the spoon coming. :-) Quite the accomplishment, wouldn't you agree??

Other than that, we've been staying busy baking cookies, playing Settlers/Cities and Knights, and enjoying each other's fellowship. What a blessing to have a good marriage - I live for mornings (breakfast together), evenings after David comes home, nights, and weekends. :-) Not that I don't enjoy the middle of the day hanging out with the little ones, but it's just so much richer with the fellowship David and I share. He's a great companion to me, and a fantastic Papa to his little girls. I love watching him interact with them. Can you imagine living in a home without that harmony? I'm so blessed.

When Lucia hears Rhea wake up, she LOVES to go "cuddle" with her in her bed. Here a picture of them squished side by side and enjoying every minute of it. :-)

Rhea's first time in the high chair. She's been having most meals in her bouncy seat so far though, because she's not quite sitting up alone yet and I think it squishes her tummy too much to be comfortable eating like that for now. I'm sure it won't be long, though!

Nadja hanging out with Rhea (who also enjoyed the company. :0) )

Hanging out with Nadja in the bathroom while Lucia was taking a bath, the longest one in her life so far. I kept saying, "are you done playing?" But she definitely wasn't. Having Nadja there was so fun, and they kept staging complex dramas with Lucia's bath companions. Who wouldn't want to spend an hour+ in the tub that way?!

Here's the owner of the wrinkliest fingers and toes ever! :-)