Saturday, February 14, 2009

We had a GREAT Valentine's day today. Our plan was to take the kids bowling with the Fadel's...but at about 4 pm, we realized no one had made reservations and it was full. It was a HUGE relief because I was starting to get tired and really wanted a cozy night at home...which is EXACTLY what we had. I was able to pick up the house, so I won't have to do that tomorrow. Grandma and Grandpa Gilbride stopped to see Jack's new glasses and to chat. Yaya stopped to drop off Valentine's and so did Papa for a visit this afternoon. Jack was very happy to see them all. They are full of 'special treats' and tore through all their cards. It was a success. My sweet hubby bought me chocolates in a heart-shaped box and a sweet card. I was in my pj's at 4:30- we ordered pizza and have no dishes to do- what more could I possibly ask for!?

Annie is getting really close to rolling now. She's lifting her little legs and bringing them to the side. She was scooting around in circles on her playmat this afternoon with her legs movements. She seems to be entertaining herself with this because she lasts a lot longer on her playmat these days!!!

Mallie and I gave Annie a bath tonight. Annie loves splashing around in her tub and Mallie loves being a part of it. As I was getting Annie out, though, Mallie swung her foot over the wall of the tub and into Annie's baby tub. We had to change her pj's due to 'soggy foot'.

Mallie got in trouble today for hitting Jack. Tommy was in charge on this one, so I'm a little fuzzy on the details. But it reminded me of the time a few months ago when Mallie hit Jack in the face- hard (accidentally). It obviously hurt him, and his little eyes filled up with tears. To make a point, I scolded Mallie and told her 'We don't hit our brother. We have to be gentle". Scolding her just made Jack more upset. He looked at me with a quivering lip and shaky voice and said, "No Mom, I OK. Mallie did it on accident". It broke my heart that he was sticking up for her even though he was hurt!

I was cleaning my room this afternoon, knowing that Mallie was lurking around the upstairs playing and getting into things. When I poked my head into her room, she was sitting on the floor, looking at Jack's scrapbook from when he was a baby. She was pointing at people, saying 'Tantie (Auntie), bee bee (baby), Yiyi (Annie- thinking that the pictures of Jack were Annie). It was so cute.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Jack got new glasses today!!! He's been tilting his head to the left and leading with his right eye when he is reading and writing. So I took him to the eye doctor last week and she prescribed glasses for far-sightedness in both eyes- especially the left. He got them today and they look GREAT! He's really, really excited about them because Tommy recently got glasses, so he can be just like his dad. I'm really proud of how he's doing with them. He's keeping them on and when he does take them off, he puts them in a safe place.

He told me yesterday while I was giving him a bath that my hair is beautiful. After his bath, he said "Mom, I have a GREAT IDEA! Let's paint with my new paints!" When I told him he could paint, he replied, "Thanks mom, you're amazing." What an ego boost!!! :)

He's also been telling people "thanks, nice compliment" when someone says something nice to him.

Today when I went to get Annie up from her nap, she was in the process of rolling over to her side. I watched her for a few minutes and she didn't quite get there- but she will be soon!!!

Mallie had a great time at the music class we went to tonight. She ran around with the kids and sat in her chair when the class started. She even clapped for the musician and danced when the other kids did. She had a great time!!!

Mallie has become part of 'Jack Jack' the restaurant. She is Jack's official 'helper' and has her own sign in the restaurant that says "Mallie Mallie". When she wants to play restaurant, she runs up to Jack and shouts "Jack Jack????" And they run down in the basement to play.

I went to Dunkin Donuts for coffee today. While I was ordering, Mallie was shouting from the back of the van "DOH DOH!!! DOH DOH!!!". She knows what you get at Dunkin Donuts and she was NOT going to be left out. Mallie also yells "YO YO!!! YO YO!!!" in a really deep voice at lunchtime when she wants yogurt and "WAFFA! WAFFA!!!" in the morning to get her waffle.

We have a make-shift village growing along our woodwork in the kitchen right now. Jack has told me all the stores to draw and we've cut them out and taped them up. He and Mallie then drive their cars to the different places. He was at the table writing this afternoon and came to me with a sign for a store that had the letters 'GETL" on it. He had remembered these letters from the Giant Eagle sign and made his own grocery store. I was extremely impressed.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Is it really only Tuesday???? We had a very rough night last night and I am exhausted from being up so much. I kept the kids up without a nap today to try to prevent them from being so wakeful again tonight. We shall see if that strategery works! :)

Jack was up in the bathroom this afternoon for a rather lengthy period of time. I yelled up to him to see if he was OK. He replied "Yeah Mom! My socks are just in the potty!!!" I still have not heard a convincing reason for this.

Mallie was so sleep-deprived this evening that she was actually pleasent. Her screaming and shrieking were kept to a minimum. I was actually having dreams about her screaming last night, it happened so much yesterday. She screams when she is tired, mad, sad, excited, happy, laughing- it really doesn't matter. I am trying to figure out how to break it.

We were in Annie's room playing this morning. Jack got out this ladybug turntable that is supposed to be used for tummy time. Annie likes it, but doesn't last too long on it. So then it was the big kids' turn. Jack got on it on his tummy and did a couple spins. Then Mallie did a face plant into it and kind of shimmied back and forth. This got a huge laugh from both Jack and me, so she continued to do it!

Annie had a good day. All the child wants is attention and she doesn't realize that if she fussed more or cried she would get it. When I have a few minutes to play with her or chat with her, she literally turns inside-out. She is so happy. Today she was thrilled to have Jack chatting with her for a few minutes while she sat in her bouncy seat.

Monday, February 9, 2009

Claire and I were feeling adventurous today and took all 4 kids to the rainforest at the zoo. Everyone was really, really well-behaved and it was a very fun trip. Although a little wild at the end (getting everyone gathered up and in the van!) we felt very successful!

Two nights ago, Tommy gave Jack a large manilla envelope to play with. Within imnutes, Jack had started his own "bee-wivery' service and was 'bee-wivering' letters to all of us.

For the past couple of days, Jack has been telling me that he wants to 'get married with me'. I told him last night that I was already married, so we would have to find him another person to marry. He wasn't happy about that, but grudgingly agreed. Tonight, I saw him stop playing and stare into space for a minute before sitting down on the floor and telling me that he wanted to 'get married with me, PLEASE." I told him again that we were going to find another girl for him to marry in a few years. He got kind of upset and told me that he did not want to marry someone else and he only wanted to marry me. I tried to end the discussion by telling him that this isn't something that he needs to worry about right now because he's only 3. Hopefully, that worked.

Tonight, Jack and Mallie were playing 'house' in the coat closet. They were shut in there for a couple of minutes before Tommy went in to check on them. Then, of course, they wanted Tommy in there with them. I got a great picture of Tommy, squished inside of the coat closet with the two of them on his lap, 'playing' house.

I am cleaning out closets right now, trying to get ready for a possible move. I am giving away a Santa dress someone got for Annie that was WAY too big for her this year. It was sitting in a box in the kitchen this morning. When I got off the phone with Claire, I realized that Jack had his scissors out. He was trying to cut off the tag of the dress because it was 'itching' him. It was itching him because he had put the 'bloomers' from the dress on over his pj bottoms, and the actual dress 1/2 way over his torso. He looked ridiculous.

Before going to the zoo today, we were chatting about what we thought we were going to see. Jack had some good guesses and then asked if we would see a carrier? I asked what that was and he said, "A carrier, like the people who take care ofthe animals???"

I thought of another adventure that I have never documented!!! This summer (August 5th) my cousin Emily called to inform us that Barack Obama was coming to Baldwin-Wallace to speak. We did not have tickets, but decided to go (with the kids and Claire) on the off chance that we'd catch a glimpse of him and be a part of the excitement! It turned out that there were extra seats in the auditorium/ gym and we got in. It was one of the hottest days of the year and the gym was NOT air-conditioned. But Claire and I climbed our very pregnant selves up to the rafter seats and sat. We waited for over 45 minutes for him to come out to speak. During this time, Jack was freaking out because of the loud audience (he does not like loud noises). He sat, covering his ears emphatically for the entire time, flushed because he was so scared. Mallie, on the other hand, was TOTALLY into the experience. She was clapping when everyone else clapped for something Obama said. She sat on Em's lap the entire time, still as a stone. On the way home, Jack said he did not like Barack Obama. But Mallie did. Every since then, he has been telling people that he voted for John McCain and Mallie voted for Barack Obama.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/15516111@N07/2735722211/
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Friday, February 6th, 2009

We went to Squeaky Sneaker this morning to run off a little energy and get out of the house. Most of the time we were there, Jack and his buddy, Charlie, shot hoops (that were WAY too high for them). I carried Annie around in the carrier on me and she fell asleep. Mallie probably had the roughest time of the kids. She had a hard time sharing toys with other kids today for some reason. At one point I looked across the gym to find her bright red and crying. I realized she had been yelling at another little girl for going down the slide in front of her. There were several incidents like this today. It wasn't all bad though- Mallie did the parachute time for the first time. She held onto it and walked in a circle with the rest of us while we sang songs (looking up at me often to make sure I was seeing how cool she was!). She also sat in the middle of the parachute while we dragged the kids around in a circle.


During dinner, Tommy and I were trying to talk over the babble going on at the table. Out of the corner of my ear, I heard Jack singing quietly to himself "All the single ladies, all the single ladies!" by none other than THE Miss Beyonce Knowles. I was floored, as he has not heard this song more than twice on my ipod playlist!!! :)

We took the kids to Malley's for ice cream after dinner. The older two ordered clown sundaes and LOVED them. Mallie especially enjoyed hers. It was EVERYWHERE...dripping down her chin, cheeks, sweater, tights, coat, my coat. At one point, Jack looked up at her and exclaimed, "Mals! Look what you did to yourself!" It was perfect.

We watched the moving Wall-E tonight. It was about an hour and a half long and Jack asked at least one question per minute that entire time. It was impressive!!

Thursday, February 28th, 2008

It's been a long day. We started off taking Jack to the eye doctor this morning. The visit confirmed my suspicions that he needs glasses. He's been turning his head to one side while reading and writing because he is far-sighted, especially in his left eye. It made me a little bit sad for him- even though he is over the moon about wearing glasses like his Daddy. We ordered them today and should get them in a week. He's already asked me when he's getting them about a thousand times.

Last night when I put the kids down for bed (an aside: Mallie has been in a big girl bed and sharing a room with Jack for over 2 months now because we put Annie in a crib when she was 6 weeks old and didn't want to have to buy another crib for only a couple of months). Jack had a VERY important and urgent question as I was trying to walk out of the room for the 50th time. I tried to blow it off and ignore him so that I could leave and go to bed myself. But he was persistant. Finally, I said "WHAT JACK!?" and he asked me his weighing question: "Mom, is Humpty Dumpty an egg?"

It takes me about 20 minutes to get the older kids to sleep now. It used to be that I could throw Mallie in her crib (she would reach for it before I was finished singing her Twinkle Twinkle!) Now, we have to read books, say prayers, sing Twinkle Twinkle to Mallie (she shouts at me if I try to rub her back) then sing Jack his Twinkle Twinkle (he shouts at me if I don't rub his back). Then I sit outside their bedroom door and do my own shouting when Mallie runs to the end of the bed to check things out or drops her pacifier on the floor on purpose, or Jack laughs at her singing along to the lullaby music. I snap, "do you want spanks?" and she runs (turning inside-out with laughter) to the head of her bed and dives onto her pillow. It is both infuriating and hysterical at the same time.

For dinner tonight, Mallie ate 2 portions of her ravioli and then ate what Jack didn't finish off of his plate.

Mallie has learned to really keep a melody. She sings "Ba Ba Bamba!" and can hum along to "Tops and Bottoms", "Peanut Butter Jelly Time", and does the 'Thumpety Thump Thump" from Frosty the Snowman by wiggling her tongue (blah blah blah).

Wednesday, February 4th, 2009

I am making a REAL goal of blogging more often. It is a crime that I am not recording the things that happen in this house on a daily, if not weekly basis in order to look back on when the kids grow up.

Things here have been busy, but good. I have all the kids on the same nap schedule... so I usually have at least an hour and a half to get things done around here. I need to use that time one day a week to write.

Let's start with Jack:

This morning, we were playing restaurant in the basement. Jack and Mallie were walking around with their chefs' hats on taking orders. Mallie strictly directed me to my seat by yelling 'MA MA!!!!' and pointing to the bench where I was so be seated. Then Jack told me the restaurant was called "Jack Jack" and asked if I would like a 'Haco", which is how he says 'Taco'.

Other Jackism's these days: he's been learning about 'Who-Hi-Hee" in school (Hawaii),

He and Tommy were talking the other day and Jack told him "You're my best guy Dad", to which Tommy replied, "Thanks, you're my best guy, too Buddy." And Jack came back with, "Thanks for the nice compliment Dad". He then explained that "a compliment is something you tell someone to make them happy.".

He's also been throwing 'interesting' into conversations a lot lately.

Today Mallie said something that sounded like "OK" to him and he was so excited. He yelled in the other room to tell me: "Mom! Mallie said OK!!!! She's a fabulous girl!!!"

Tommy went to 'Day with Dad's" yesterday at St. Angela's preschool. Jack told him that he was going to have to sit on the carpet and that he would teach Tommy how to learn. They had a camping theme the whole day and made smores by the pretend fire and sang Kumbaya..... God I wish I could have seen it.

Jack always thanks me for dinner right after his first bite by saying, "MMMM, this is pretty good. Thank you for making this dinner for me Mom." He also recently told me, "Mom, you're pretty coot. (cute)".

Uncel Drew was over this weeknd and Jack had a melt down when he was told to get off the computer. Finn was crying too at this point and to distract him, Drew asked Jack what he should do to make Finn stop crying. Through his tears and sobs, Jack said, "I don't know. Why don't you try a pac!?" And went on with his tantrum.

As far as Mallie Bird goes- she's becoming a big girl quickly!!! She is telling me when she went potty (by pointing to her diaper and saying 'poo!') I think she's going to potty train very easily. Maybe once the weather gets warmer!?

SHe knows all her body parts and animal sounds. She says her animals sounds instead of the names of the animals. I think my favorites are 'crab' (pinching her hands together), 'gorilla' (beating her chest) guinea pig (scrunching up her nose and eyes) and fish (making the fish face with her mouth).

Mallie LOVES to read. I cannot emphasize this enough. When she realizes someone is going to read to her, she gets so excited and brings her little arms up to her sides and smiles really big and does a little shimmy. Then she backs into their lap with her butt. I find her reading all the time when I've lost track of her and it's quiet!

Mallie adores her baby sister. She cannot get enough of her. She greets her about 1000 times a day with a very high-pitched 'HIIIIIIIIIIIIII Yi-Yi!!!!" (which is what she calls her). Also, I am finding it fascinating how Mallie is in to girl things and Jack boy things. I don't feel like I've raised the two of them any differently. Boys and girls, just truly gravitate toward different things. Mallie is obssessed with her babies. She reads to them, pushes them in their stroller, puts them to bed, feeds them, puts blankies on them, burps them, shushes them, bounces them. She is very maternal. She could sit on the couch and hold Annie for a half hour if we let her.
SHe also does an impression of Annie by pretending to eat her hands, as this is one of Annie's favorite things to do.


Mallie loves to dance. A favorite past time in our house is to play a CD (these days it's either the Wiggles or Justin Robert's Popfly). The kids go crazy. Mallie's favorite move is to crouch down and do a torso twist while holding her arms at a 90 degree angle. Then she falls on her butt and sayds in a very deep voice with a furled brow: "WHOOOOOAAAA!"

A typical play time for Mallie includes her walking around the house, with her metallic purple purse on her arm (sometimes with sunglasses on), with her pretend cell phone to her ear, babbling away and waving 'bah!' to me.

Mallie's main words right now are: mama, dada, yi-yi (annie), JA! (jack), yaya, papa, ti-ti (auntie), baby, shoe, sah (sock), moh (more), peeeees (please), de-de (thank you and dede), bah! (bye), duh (duck), baaa (bath), daw-duh (all done), na-na (banana).

Mallie LOVES to eat. She will sit for a half hour after Jack gets up to finish whatever is in front of her. We were at a SUper Bowl part last weekend at the Lange's and it became a joke every time Mallie went up to the appetizer table to 'refill'. She thought it was funny that everyone was laughing at her, too.

Jack and Mallie play very well together 95% of the time. They make each other laugh while they eat breakfast and lunch together at the kitchen table by taking turns shaking their heads violently back and forth. I don't get it, but it's really funny to them.

Annie started smiling the week before Thanksgiving. She was about 3 1/2 weeks old. She is the happiest baby I've ever met. SHe loves to watch the action and she will sit in her swing or bouncy for a really long time just watching. She is doing well with her tummy time because she is so motivated to look up at what's going on. SHe took her first dip in a swimming pool last week. We took the kids swimming at the rec center and they had life vests for the older 2, so I felt comfortable holding Annie and dipping her little toes in the pool. She loved it. Annie is on Pepcid for acid reflux and it's pretty pathetic when her tummy is hurting her because she tries so hard to smile through it. It doesn't seem to be as bad with her as it was with poor Mallie when she was this age though.

Annie is pulling her legs up and trying to roll over from her back this week. She's also pulling herself up from a reclined position to alsmot sitting by herself! We need to be careful because she could easily roll out of her swing, etc.

She has fuzzy little fluff for hair that is so cute. It looks like she has a buzz cut. And it's going to be red!

She started sleeping through the night about a month ago. Some nights she'll get up to eat one time, but mostly she gets through until about 6 a.m.

We baptized Annie January 20th. It was freezing that weekend and our pipes froze, so we had to stay at a hotel the night before the baptism. The kids had a blast running around the hotel suite. They played a game of running from one wall to a door and slamming into it at top speed. They were laughing so hard they were crying!