Sleeping Beauty Ballet

Way back in September, I saw that the Atlanta Ballet Company was doing a short weekend presentation of Sleeping Beauty for Valentine's. It was a shortened performance of only an hour intended specifically for children. I knew Zara would love it so I took a leap and bought a pair of tickets.

Thankfully it all worked out that we were able to go and so Zara and I went to enjoy the ballet together. Afterwards, we went to the mall to get a special treat together (Zara picked Cinnabon) and buy a present for David. It was a fun little outing but I will admit to being glad it was only an hour because I don't think either Zara or I could have made it longer.

A Little Helping of Benjamin

We need a little bit more Benjamin up in here. This baby is hardly a baby anymore and it makes me sad. He crawls everywhere, pulls himself up on everything, and puts everything except for actual food into his mouth. He has quite the distaste for pureed baby foods but he does like Cheetos. He also looks a lot like Adelaide. I should post some comparison photos. Still, this baby does my heart good. Everyone always comments on what a happy baby is. He does love to smile.

Adelaide Goes to the Dentist

This past Tuesday Adelaide had her first trip to the dentist. Our family dentist doesn't see patients under the age of 5 and it took me a little while to find a pediatric dentist that a) takes our insurance and b) didn't have awful reviews. I had to drive farther away but I finally found one.

Luckily, Adelaide has not yet inherited my crappy teeth and she was given a clean bill of dental health. She got a cleaning and a red balloon and did a great job. I'm glad I can check that off my list for the next six months.

Adelaide's Big Bed Girl Bed

Playing catch up from my blog hiatus. Next up, Adelaide's move from a crib to a twin bed, or as she likes to call it, her big bed girl bed. 

Even after Benjamin's birth, Adelaide was still sleeping in her crib. She didn't seem to mind it but she had started climbing on the railing. While she had never climbed OUT of the bed, we knew it was only a matter of time. We had bought Zara's twin bed at Costco and so we went to Costco to pick up a bed for Adelaide.....but they didn't have any. I checked back every time I went to Costco (which is a lot because I love Costco and have a huge love of buying things in bulk) but still no beds. 

I started shopping around at other locations but the beds were so much more expensive than the one we had bought for Zara and I really didn't want to have to pay so much. Plus, most of the other stores don't carry the mattresses in the store and so we'd have to pay extra to have it delivered to us. I also didn't want to buy a super cheap mattress for Adelaide but something comparable to what Zara has so that both will last a good long while.  So Adelaide kept sleeping in her crib and I decided we'd figure it out after Christmas. 

Well, I was shopping at Costco the week after our return from California and lo and behold, they had twin mattresses! So we speedily purchased the set and took it home, strapped to the roof of David's car. 

The next day, I took Adelaide shopping at Target for new sheets/comforter. I wanted her to get something that would work well with the current color scheme (PINK and MORE PINK) and she selected this cute comforter with horses and stars.

We got the bed all set up and Adelaide needed very little convincing to sleep in her new bed. She's done great in her big girl bed (big bed girl bed) and it was a pretty seamless transition.

Now, potty training on the other hand.....that's another story.

Have Yourself a Blurry Little Christmas

So you may have noticed that I have not updated this blog in a very long time. A very long time. I blame Christmas. (And David. When in doubt, always blame the spouse.)

See, we made plans to spend Christmas in California with my parents this...er, last year. I was so excited. We hadn't been to California for several years (not since before Adelaide was born) and we had never spent Christmas in California since we got married. I was excited to take the kids to San Diego, introduce them to all the delicious food, go sight seeing, and splurge on a trip to Legoland. We haven't taken a proper vacation in a long time and nothing sounded better than Christmas in California.

But two days (or was it three?) before our scheduled flight, I started to feel sick. But I soldiered through thinking it couldn't last more than a few days. But I was wrong. I was so wrong.

I cannot remember a time when I was sicker. I was constantly tired and couldn't eat. I coughed and coughed and coughed and couldn't sleep. I ran a fever. I never run a fever. By the second or third day of our vacation I begged David to take me to urgent care.

Finally a diagnosis: strep throat and bronchitis.

I was given a prescription for antibiotics and sent on my way but it was somewhat comforting to know that I wasn't imagining my illness. I was truly good and sick.

The rest of the trip is a bit of a hazy blur. There was a lot of sleeping and not a lot of eating. (I lost 10 pounds. And I tried! I really tried hard to eat In & Out and Mexican food and all the things I had been craving but I mostly just drank a lot of Jamba Juice.) We did not go to Legoland or the zoo or visit the ocean or all the things I had wanted to do with the kids. My mom did take pity on them and take them to the Wild Animal Park (which I refuse to call Safari Park) and spoiled them as grandmothers are meant to do. I did get to have two lovely visits with my dear friend Tessa and several trips to my grandmother's house. I may have fallen asleep on the couch talking to her, but I still love visiting my grandma.

I hated that I ruined Christmas for everyone. But apparently I'm the only one who felt that way. David assures me that after two years of almost non-stop work, the trip was incredibly relaxing and peaceful simply because he did nothing. The kids got to watch lots of TV and eat junk food and get spoiled by their grandparents who also have cats. Nothing could have been better. Zara still asks when we can go back.

And as David pointed out, this was probably the absolute best time and place to get completely knocked sideways and out for the count because he was there the whole time to take care of me and the kids and my mom was there to make sure we were all fed and looked after. Moms never get sick days but this was about as good as it gets. I only had to be sick and that was wonderful. So even though I still feel a little bummed that our vacation was marred by such a hard and prolonged illness, it was actually a bit nice to just sleep through most of it.

The other sad outcome was that I took hardly any photos and most of the ones that were taken were blurry. So here's what I got from our Christmas but it's not much.

Playing with my parents' cats Bradbury and Lewis

Christmas money from the grandparents

New Christmas pajamas

Love these kids

It still took awhile to recover from my illness and I didn't feel 100% back to normal until a week or two after we returned to Georgia. But I hope I'll get another chance soon to take the kids to California and really show off the state.

Drowning in Babies

Sometimes there are too many babies. I'm just drowning in them.

Selfies

I'm not much for selfie culture. I'm not much for photos of myself period but occasionally I like to have some proof that I exist, especially since I'm the one usually behind the camera. I was a little bored waiting for the girls to finish playing in their bath tonight so I showed Benjamin himself in the mirror and he seemed to think he was pretty great.  I just had to capture a few selfies. 

I adore this kid. 

Halloween 2015

This year for Halloween we decided to do a family theme. And since we're a bunch of nerds who are getting increasingly excited for the next Star Wars movie, we had to do a Star Wars theme. We recently introduced the girls to Star Wars and they are big fans. David and I are Anakin and Padme, Zara is Leia, Adelaide is an Ewok, and Benjamin is Yoda.

We started our preparations early. (That almost never happens.) We went to the thrift store where I found my white shirt and pants. We also purchased a set of microfiber curtains which became David and Benjamin's Jedi robes. 

And as luck would have it, we also found this Yoda doll at the thrift store for $2. I immediately snatched it up, thinking that it just might be big enough to fit on Benjamin if I pulled it apart. And that is exactly what I did. 

I cut off Yoda's head and feet and then sewed on elastic to keep them in place. 

Even luckier, someone at church brought in a ton of fabric to give away and I scored tons of this white fabric which I knew would be perfect for Leia's dress. It was the perfect size and there was just enough to make her dress, belt, and hood. 

For Adelaide, I actually made a cute R2D2 costume out of posterboard but she absolutely refused to wear it so we had to go to plan B, which was this quick and easy Ewok costume. 

Except she kept calling herself a Wookiee. 

Here's all the cousins (on David's side) together for Halloween Trick or Treating and those of us who dressed as Star Wars characters, which was a lot of us.

Bathing Beauty?

I also rediscovered this little gem in my phone photos today. What a nut. 

The Baby That Ate My Baby

Why do babies have to grow so big so quickly? For example:

Here is one Benjamin Button, aged 1 month.

And here is that same child, aged 4 months. 

At least, I think it's the same child. It may also be the child that ate my baby. Hard to tell.