Second verse, same as the first!

Posted on February 26, 2009 by Sherry

Apropos of nothing, really, I’ve started styling Breanna’s hair in a little bun high up on top of her head. Surprisingly, she really loves it. There are only three ways she likes her hair – loose (which unfortunately causes knots), in two braids, or this bun. This is my favorite of all, I think it makes her look even cuter than usual; George said it makes her look like Raven Simone did when she was a little kid on The Cosby Show, and he’s absolutely right.

Apropos of everything these days, now it’s Breanna’s turn to be sick. Hayley still isn’t 100% but she’s well enough that she finally went back to school on Wednesday, a full week of sickness behind her. Luckily she didn’t seem to be too far behind and we’ll catch up on the homework over March break. She nearly didn’t survive today, which was Carnival Day at the school. They played outside a lot (the weather today was perfect, not cold at all and the snow was perfect for building snowmen) by playing games, going on a horse-drawn bus ride, and enjoyed a big bouncy house in the gym. After lunch they let them all wind down by watching a movie, and by the time she came home she was a big pile of exhausted. I’m surprised she didn’t spontaneously combust from the tired-related, end-of-plague crankiness. It took her less than three minutes to fall asleep.

Overall though, Hayley is okay other than the sporadic coughing and the sniffing. Have I mentioned my hatred of sniffing? It makes me insane. But it’s getting better.

Breanna, on the other hand, is a whole big mess. The faucet in her nose sprang a leak and she still can’t really blow her nose very well so it’s driving her crazy. She hasn’t really been feverish, but she has the worst cough ever. She sounds like a little old man who’s been smoking two packs a day for the past 60 years. She can’t sleep long without waking herself up with a coughing fit. We’re taking her to the doctor tomorrow because she had bronchitis this time last year and I want to see if that’s what this is again. On the other hand, the sound of her cough fits better with the description of “the barking seals of Croup” so it could be that too.

If ever I wanted another baby, this tag-team sickness is curing any such desire – mostly because I am remembering what sleep deprivation is. The past few nights I’ve only had a handful of hours of sleep and most of them are broken into 20-30 minute stretches. I don’t think I can willingly go back to that.

Of course, it’s not just me. After all, the reason I’m not sleeping much is because Breanna isn’t either, so the poor kid is overtired and cranky almost 24/7 right now. There are large parts of the day where asking her a question results in high-pitched shrieking, as though we were torturing her instead of just asking if she’d like some more water.

I am doing everything I can think of, beyond the basic “wash your hands eight hundred times a day” concept, something I do anyway, in order to prevent getting sick myself. Next Friday morning we have to get on a train and head to Toronto for my sister-in-law’s wedding. I can’t imagine a five hour train ride when you feel like Death.

Please go douse your hands in bleach after you’re done reading this, I’d hate to pass all of our germs on to you!

A tingly food sensation

Posted on February 18, 2009 by Sherry

Breanna and Hayley have both inherited a strange genetic quirk that doesn’t allow us to sit like normal people on a chair. Oh sure, we can do it if we must, like at a restaurant or a fancy party. I can also remember to sit properly while wearing a skirt of dress; we’re still working on the kids for that one.

However for the most part, I sit with one leg tucked under me. So do Hayley and Breanna. Usually it’s easy to remember to shift from one leg to the other, but if I get distracted I end up with my foot falling asleep. Which is what happened at supper last night to Breanna, but she has a bit of trouble remembering the right terminology.

Breanna: Oh! What’s in my foot?!
George: What?
Breanna: What’s in my foot? Oh! I know! Beans and weiners!
George: …
Sherry: Pins and needles, sweetheart.

I then royally offended her by laughing uncontrollably, but I managed to explain that I wasn’t laughing to make fun of her, I was just laughing because it was funny and cute.

I love kids, they’re so unintentionally hilarious.

Little miss model

Posted on February 8, 2009 by Sherry

A little while ago someone we know called and asked if Breanna could be involved in a photoshoot; she sells baby products through Costco, things like legwarmers, terry cloth robes, little outfits, etc. We said sure, that it would probably be fun. Everything was finally ready to go on Saturday, so I took Breanna to an awesome photo studio where she joined a few other kids.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect once we got there because with Breanna you just never know. She’s a lot of fun and laughs a lot, but when she’s ticked off you really know it, so it could have gone either way. In the end, she loved it and she did an amazing job. She wore all the things they wanted, she listened to everyone as far as where to sit, where to look, everything.

Naturally I loved being there too because, hello, shooting in a real studio with real lighting (as opposed to my ghetto lighting, “let me just take the shade off this lamp, hang on”!). And luckily for me, the photographer didn’t seem to mind that I was shooting behind him. I just stayed well out of his way and didn’t speak to Breanna while he was working so I wouldn’t distract her.

I think she had an excellent time.

I think we may have created a monster though. Afterwards, we stopped by George’s parents’ house so she could try on her dress for my sister-in-law’s wedding and as soon as she had it on, she started twirling and posing.

Also, while we were at the studio, they would alternate between her and a little boy every five minutes so neither one got too tired, and she looked up and said, “I want my picture taken again!”

What a lot of fun! There may be another day that we’ll need to go back for some retakes, because one of the bathrobes they wanted to feature was too short for her, but I think she’ll be happy to do it again.

She was also really excited because she got to keep the little shirt, pink skirt, and polka-dot pink legwarmers. Last night she insisted on wearing the legwarmers to bed.

As long as she doesn’t go all Naomi Campbell, screaming at people and throwing cell phones at anyone’s head, it will be okay.

You can see more of the photos I took over here!

The magic of Santa

Posted on December 22, 2008 by Sherry

I love Santa Claus. As a parent I’ve been occasionally miffed that sometimes Santa gets the glory of the really good gifts, but overall, Santa is magical and I can’t hold the gift thing against him (especially because THIS year, Santa will bring the kids the things they asked for BUT the really awesome surprise gifts are from us, so nyah to you Santa!).

I believed in Santa for a remarkably long time, all things considered. I was about 11 when I finally accepted the truth; I had started to falter by 10, but I wanted to believe so badly that I hung in there for one more year. When I was with my mother one day in Toys R Us, she saw something my sister wanted from Santa and it was on sale for that day only. She looked at me, looked at the toy, and asked me, “do you still believe in Santa?” I looked at the toy I knew my sister had written to Santa about and I knew why she was asking, and I said, “no, but it was a lot of fun to believe!”

I was never crushed, since I had suspected as much for a year or so anyway. And I was never angry with my mother and father for “lying” to me, because I didn’t see it as lying. It was pretending, it was make believe. My mother routinely played Barbies with me, pretending the dolls were real and that they were living exciting lives. My father played Hot Wheels cars with me almost every night after supper and we pretended they tiny cars had tiny people who drove them around in their tiny, busy little lives. They were not lying to me when they played, they were taking part in the magical world of play. And when it came to Santa, they weren’t lying, they were taking part in the magical world of elves and reindeer who fly and giant toy shops in the middle of a land of ice and cold.

I was sad to no longer believe but I had a good long run. I don’t know how no one ever ruined it for me prior to that because kids are notoriously mean to each other. When Hayley started school I feared someone, especially an older kid, would tell her the truth earlier than I’d like her to know. So far her belief seems intact, and if it’s shaken then I don’t know about it yet. I want her to believe as long as she possibly can, and Breanna too. It will be of the utmost importance that she does not spoil it for Breanna when the day of truth comes. I will remind her of how much fun it was to write a letter to Santa and get one back, how much she enjoyed setting out milk and cookies for Santa on the 24th, and how giddy she got when she would visit Santa at the mall, and I will ask her to let her sister have that too.

So far, though? So good. On Friday we went to one of the malls that usually has reindeer in a petting zoo. To our enormous disappointment, they didn’t have them this year but there was no line-up for Santa yet, being before 3 pm on the last day of pre-vacation school, so we let them go see Santa, talk to him, and get some free hugs.

They were so happy and it made my heart sing. This Santa gave them “magic” washcloths – they’re tiny little blocks but when you put them in the water they pop open to full sized cloths with Santa decorations on them. They were thrilled.

Then on Saturday, I actually dressed them for the purpose of getting photos taken and we went to a smaller mall to see another Santa. Again, they stood and blushed and chattered at him, and then they took a picture. I could not get Breanna to look at the camera because she was so bashful in that “oh my god, a celebrity!” way but it’s so cute I don’t care. This Santa gave Hayley a stuffed frog and Breanna a stuffed dragon and both girls have slept with their special Santa gifts each night since.

I love the magic of Christmas. I hate shopping but for my kids I will do anything and everything to give them a happy and wonderful 25th – and the magical belief in a man in a red suit with flying reindeer is all part of the tradition. I hope they believe for a long time.

A hard brick wall

Posted on December 16, 2008 by Sherry

On Sunday night, Breanna was restless and woke up many times during the night, which of course woke me up as well. As a result, I was tired on Monday. I actually had a migraine and George had to take over getting Hayley ready for school because the pain in my head was incapacitating until later in the morning. I did my work on auto-pilot all day long and then crashed into bed, two advils in my system to prevent a repeat performance of tap dancers in my skull, and I went to sleep.

Unfortunately, I only got to sleep for half an hour, and Breanna woke up again. She then repeated waking up, I swear to God, every half hour – EVERY HALF HOUR from midnight until the alarm went off at 6:15. Luckily I didn’t have a headache and I was able to get Hayley through her sluggish morning routine, but I felt like the walking dead. I felt so much like a zombie from the lack of sleep that I would have started screaming “braaaains” and chasing people, but I didn’t have enough energy. I’m a zombie that ran straight into a wall.

Auto-pilot kicked in again, and as I glance at my work to-do list, I see that everything I absolutely had to do has been checked off, but I’m not entirely sure how that happened. Maybe I should check everything tomorrow to make sure I wasn’t just typing “lasdkjfaldskjfalf” on everything.

Speaking of work and all, I’m giving away a $50 eco-friendly scarf over on PittWatch, you can go enter to win it here.

I’m heading to bed in less than ten minutes, before 11 pm which is practically unheard of for me. I just can’t stay up late and I am crossing every finger and toe that Breanna will sleep tonight. She has a cold and molars bugging her all at the same time so I know it’s not her fault – it’s not like she woke up and just decided to be contrary, but at 3 am, it’s hard to keep from hissing at your child to go.to.sleep.right.flippin’.NOW.

I just need the sleep more than usual because tomorrow George and I are going to Toys R Us to get the kids all their Christmas presents. Yes, Toys R Us. Pray for me.

But we can get all their main gifts there at the best price compared to the other stores, so it’s hard to resist. We’re getting this for both of them (it comes with one of the Barbies, we’ll get the other one separately). Then they’re both getting one of these in different colors from the guy in the red suit because that’s all they’ve asked for.

Breanna is getting this or one like it because that kid wants to take pictures so badly it’s not even funny. She asks to use my point and shoot more than Hayley ever did, I think it’s genetic.

Speaking of genetic, being that Hayley wants to be musically inclined like George, we’re going to get her something like this which should make her very happy.

I’m not sure what they’re going to give each other, though I think Hayley may get a Wall-E doll from Breanna and maybe Breanna can get a doll from the Mickey Mouse group (she has Mickey but she also likes Donald and Goofy). We’ll see what inspires us when we get there.

I’m hoping to go fairly early in the morning while most people are still at work so that we can avoid too many crowds.

Wish me luck because God knows that as much as I love to GIVE presents, I truly hate to actually SHOP for them!

(With all those links, it’s a shame that Toys R Us doesn’t have an affiliate program!)

The littlest dog trainer

Posted on December 15, 2008 by Sherry

Hayley has a bit of trouble training Pearl or getting her to do things when she wants, such as getting her to let go of something or to get down. Mostly it’s because Hayley either talks with too much of a playful lilt, which makes Pearl not take her seriously, or she gets hysterical and starts shrieking which doesn’t work at all.

Surprisingly, even though Breanna is the smallest one here, she does very well with it. She uses a no-nonsense but calm tone when she speaks to the dog and it’s hilarious. There have been times when Hayley has tried unsuccessfully to retrieve one of her stuffed animals from Pearl’s jaws and she’ll ask Breanna to do it for her – and it works.

Here’s a quick clip I shot of Breanna teaching Pearl to sit and stay before returning to give her a treat and some praise for her efforts.

I love her dramatic, “stay. Staaaaay.”

But it works!

My poor homeless daughter

Posted on January 27, 2008 by Sherry

You know how kids often mimic their parents when they’re playing? It’s part of how they learn. They cook pretend meals in their toy kitchens, they use dry rags to pretend they’re dusting or cleaning floors, they push a play vacuum around the floor. One very common pretend game they do is to play Mommy or Daddy (or in the case of my girls you get Hayley playing the mother while Breanna gets stuck being the father). Kids will take a little plastic stroller, find their favorite doll (or stuffed animal), maybe even dress it up, stick it in the stroller and push it all around the place.

Hayley used to do that. She used to even enjoy taking the stroller with her dolls to the park, slowly pushing her way along the sidewalk like a real little Mommy.

Breanna?

Apparently Breanna is a homeless person, with all that’s left of her worldly belongings stuffed into her stroller like a shopping cart, wheeling it wherever she goes.

New addition

Posted on November 22, 2005 by Sherry

Welcome to the world, Breanna!
Born November 20th, 2005 at 9:54 am after less than four hours of labor.
Weighed in at 8 pounds, 5 ounces; 51 centimeters in length; head circumference of 31 centimeters.
No epidural because it all happened so fast.
More later! Click on photos to enlarge, hover for caption.