Saturday, January 30, 2010

January Wrapup

We've had a pretty uneventful week. All the girls have cold... again. It seems to be never ending this winter. We mostly stayed home and tried to stay warm since it's freezing cold outside.

Monday morning Lydia decided it was time to start wearing those Elmo panties that have been sitting in her dresser drawer for the past month. (Thanks Grandma Borneman). So, I let her. She walked around the house in a dress all day showing anyone or anything that she thought might care about her new wardrobe addition. She showed Grace, Ella, Diesel and all her Elmo toys (they were Elmo panties after all). She kept saying "Elmo, look it's you!" That went well until Monday afternoon, when she pooped everywhere. The week got a little bit better. I also decided it was going to be the week that we did away with all those pacifiers for Lydia.

On Monday, I cut a little hole in the end of one. By Tuesday night she found a new one. I hid the new found one and made the hole in the other a little bigger. Friday morning she gave it to Ella. (I'm pretty sure she'll take it back). It helps that she has a cold and can't breathe much through her nose.

Grace is still all princess. She wakes up in the morning and immediately dresses as her role of princess. Usually it's Cinderella. She will request that you call her by her appropriate name. So if I want to ask her to eat breakfast, she will respond, "Can you please ask Cinderella if she's hungry" She's not the only princess of the house though. She insists that Lydia is Snow White or Sleeping Beauty and I am Belle (since I have dark hair). Grace "teaches" Lydia about princesses daily. At one point I overheard her telling Lydia about her dwarfs. "There is Grumpy, Doc (he has glasses), Shy, Happy, Sneezy (achoo!), Dopey (his clothes are too big) and Tired."

Grace thinks everything through and applies it to what she knows. She was explaining the potty training process to Lydia late last week. "A couple weeks ago, you were a baby like Ella, then you pooped in your diaper. Now you can poop on the floor because you are learning. When you are taller like me, then you can poop on the toilet and watch 'Snow White.'"

Ella is getting so big! I can't believe she's already 4 months old! She chatters away all day long. She doesn't seem to have a lot of ambition to roll over or lift her head up yet. But she definitely focuses on Grace and Lydia all the time. (editor's note: Ella is terrified Lydia or Grace will squeeze her hand too tight, hug her tightly, or try to carry her. Of course she's keeping a watchful eye on them!) She is an amazing sleeper as well. She goes to sleep late every night but then usually sleeps through the night and frequently needs to be woke up if we have anywhere to go during the day.

Ella had her 4 month checkup on Friday. She's 25.25 inches long (70% percentile) and 13.2 ounces (25% percentile). She had 5 shots. With so little fat, she felt every prick. :( She also has thrush and an ear infection. Poor cutie.

(Editor's note: if you're been paying attention, you've learned that Grace has a cold, Lydia has a cold, Ella has thrush and an ear infection. Christy also has a cold and cough and Paul has a cold an cough. Seemed like the perfect week to potty train Lydia and take away her pacifier, huh? Any guesses why the girls are at the grandparents for the weekend?)

Happy Birthday Paul! He turned 32 on Friday. The girls helped make his favorite carrot cake and cream cheese frosting. They also helped decorate the cake. There were a lot of sprinkles!

(I love her homemade carrot cake...so tasty! Thanks)

Paul and I are catching up on sleep this weekend as the girls are at Grandma & Grandpa Borneman's this weekend. I sent them with lots of prescriptions and luck.

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Pizza to Marathon


Christy ended the year with a trip to Tazinos. A fellow mom organized a behind-the-scenes tour of a pizza buffet restaurant. Clearly, Lydia enjoyed it.



Two of the girls continue to love cuddling under a blanket on a cold winter night. One needs a pacifier so she doesn't cry.



We celebrated Christmas and New Years at Grandma and Grandpa Schuh's. Like everywhere else, the girls made out like bandits.


While these dry-erase marker cupcakes have been a hit, Grace has also been able to turn the markers into war paint on her friends.

Grace talked Grandpa Charlie into reading a few books.

Here's a random cute picture of Ella.


The girls are always excited to take turns holding Ella.

Notice that Lydia is thrilled to share her sister with Grace?



Here's Lydia after a brief driving lesson from mom.


Stethascope sound check...1, 2. Lubdub, lubdub.



Christy bought me a banana plant for Christmas. So far, it's sprouted a few new leaves. One even drew water up to the tip and there they stayed.


Lydia's hair has finally gotten long enough to hold a pony tail. Better yet, Lydia was willing to leave it in for more than an hour.

And then Christy shared a little too much of her schnapps. I always stop after the second shot.


Nona and Eric came down for a play date and tea party. Not too much tea but there were some big, themed cakes.


Less pictures, more talk:
No layoffs at work this quarter. There were plenty of rumors swirling; however, despite the first quarterly loss since 1993, there were no cuts. It sounds like there were going to be until a last minute change. Coincidently, our HR VP quit on Monday effective on Monday and an internal candidate replaced her on Friday.

Christy and I have started training for a half marathon and full marathon, respectively. Today was the first day either of us ran outside since 2005 or earlier. Long time. But we both did pretty good. Christy knocked out 2.5 miles in no time and I was able to run 6 miles. Never thought I'd run that far. And I think another couple of miles could have been easily done. Alex ran with me and though supportive, clearly eager to run faster. He found an opportunity to add in an extra mile by running ahead and back. No complaints, I could use all the peer pressure.

This week, Grace has twice said things that made me laugh so hard I cried. Wednesday night we're putting the girls to bed and praying for people. As Grace rattle off names (she likes to stall by thinking up as many friends and family as possible), she slipped in a mumbled name that sounded like 'Alan.' To which I gave Christy a look and asked if Alan fixes the furnace. I signed quotes with my fingers. Grace mimicked this gesture and said, "yes, Alan 'fixes' the furnace." I nearly fell to the floor.

Then today after dinner, I asked Christy what she wanted for her birthday. She asked, "Can I have sleep?" Grace said, "No, the sleep store is closed. It's locked." This is a common answer Christy gives Grace when she asks to go to McDonalds. Again, I'm in tears. Christy didn't enjoy either of Grace's comments as much as I did.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Belated Merry Christmas

We've been busy the last couple in December celebrating with family and spending lots of time with Dad since he's been home. Monday, Paul had to head back to work after a couple weeks off.

We started our whirlwind of Christmases with Grandma & Grandpa Borneman on the 23rd. In typical Borneman fashion, they were greeted with a mountain of gifts. Grace opened each gift and exclaimed, "it's a box"! I think Lydia was most excited about her Elmo underpants. She wasted no time putting them on. And Ella just looks cute and smiles.

On the 24th we went to Grandma & Grandpa Pedersen's for brunch. Lydia loved the surfing Elmo she got there. Grace was most impressed with her Belle pen that lit up when she wrote. Ella just got passed around, smiled and looked cute.

Next up was naps, followed by church. We sat in the crying room since there was room in the church. It was fantastic, the girls had room to play and nobody heard them.

To end the night, we went to the Murphy's before our drive home. Grace got a wardrobe of princess clothes that her and Lydia immediately tried on. Grace stayed up until 11 pm (the entire drive home, watching a movie and looking at Blitzen in the sky.

The best gift Christmas morning was that the girls all slept until 10 am. They were obviously exhausted after the excitement of the prior days.

Here are pictures from the holidays. I'll post more later with Ella's 3 month pictures and Christmas/New Year's with Grandma Dawn & Grandpa Charlie.

The pictures are in no particular order since I don't have the ambition to move them around tonight.

Here is Grace as a snow princess. She spent most of Christmas Day in this dress.
Grace insisted that Ella help open all her own gifts. Here she is making her rip open the paper. I think Ella would rather Grace do it herself.
Lydia whipping up something tasty in the kitchen
Grace peeking in the kitchen before unwrapping it
Grace and Lydia modeling at Grandma & Grandpa Murphy's house. Thanks Deena!
Lydia on the surfing Elmo. Thanks Judy!
All the Pedersen grandchildren
Lydia loves her new Elmo panties. They even match!