My birthday presents

When people asked Dan what he got me for my birthday his answer started with "Um..." And according to Judge Judy "Um is not an answer!" Poor Dan didn't get me anything but that was my wish. Not because I didn't want anything but because I wanted to pick my own stuff out. I love shopping so that in itself was a present.

I just received the starfish earrings in the mail and hopefully soon I'll be getting these:

Of course my necklace won't say "Benjamin & Elizabeth". I'll have the girls names plus a heart with a "d" because I"m not just a mom! (But it's so easy to forget that I'm a wife too....)

So this post is to restore Dan's good name as a husband. Thanks for the b-day gifts Dan!

Earrings from: stelladot.com

Necklace from: thevintagepearl.com

Hitting some big milestones!

It's been awhile since I posted. The sleep situation I posted about last time has gotten worse. Ugh...Cassidy has been getting up several times a night. I'm not sure why. She's had a little stuffed nose but that's about it. I don't think it's teething b/c it's the same times every night. She's able to put herself back to sleep probably about half the times but by then I'm awake and can't get back to sleep. BRUTAL. I do not handle sleep deprivation well. Really, who does? And did I mention how difficult it is to get her to nap? She fights it big time. Somedays she just won't nap and when she does it's only for about 30 mins at a time. I will be beyond ecstatic when she starts to sleep and nap better.

Well, despite her sleep issues she's hitting some big milestones. She's sitting up UNASSISTED! For awhile she was doing a side sit. She's also full on CRAWLING! She's been dragging, pulling and scooting herself around for awhile too but now it's actual crawling. One arm forward, then the knee follows, etc. She sure does get around fast now. She seems to be really enjoying herself. When Olivia and Lexie are playing together she'll kinda play along side them. It's nice to be able to put her down and have her occupy herself. It buys me some time to do stuff.

Typical Tuesday

Lexie has preschool at the community centre on Tuesdays and Thursdays. This is a new preschool to us and so far I really like it. The classroom is beautiful and the teachers seem really nice. Oh and Lexie seems to really like it too! She runs in and doesn't look back. Her favourite seems to be the sand tray. While she was in class Olivia, Cassidy and I went out to the playground. After the playground we went home and I tried to put Cassidy down to nap but today was a no nap day. That's what it's like lately- sleep is so hard to come by. She'll sleep from 7pm-1am but then it's up at 1, 3, 5 & 7. FUN TIMES HERE! I'm sure it's those darn teeth trying to poke through. Anyways, I seem to always talk about sleep but there is other stuff going on here. Olivia has been resisting going to kindergarten but I know she enjoys it there. I get bits and pieces about what happens in kindy. She's talked a bit about the religious education she's getting which is so nice to hear. She even wrote her own little book where each page was "Please God give us....." and then she had things like water for the flowers, flowers for the garden and mommies to take care of us. So cute!!! One friend she talks about is Irene. Irene is this adorable, calm, quiet little girl! Oh I hope she rubs off on Olivia.

I was on my own tonight and got the big girls in bed by 7:30. They were asleep shortly after. Cassidy goes to bed pretty easily and was fast asleep by 7pm. I'm feeling pretty good right now.

Who needs sleep? Clearly not me.

I'm beginning to think I will never have a full night's sleep again. Ever. I will continue to live in a state of fogginess and learn to function on 3-4 hours sleep.

The other night Lexie woke up first b/c she had to pee and it was dark. She did her business and I sang the Bare Naked Ladies "Crazy ABC's" to help her back to sleep. As I was walking by Cassidy's room I thought "Thank God it wasn't Cassidy who woke up b/c then I wouldn't be going back to sleep for awhile". Mere seconds later Cassidy started crying. Crap. Did she hear me thinking??? Probably. I'm trying to wean her from nighttime nursing so I did everything I could to get her back to sleep without nursing her. I accomplished that but it took an hour and a half. I finally get to sleep around 3am. 4:07 the crying starts again. I get up quickly b/c I feel guilty about not feeding her before and as I go into her room Olivia steps out of hers. She says something about waking her up. Cassidy has only been crying for seconds so I tell her it wasn't Cassidy who woke her up. She says "no, not Cassidy. Daddy's snoring woke me up!" So tell her to go shake him and tell him to stop snoring. I go in and start nursing Cassidy. Meanwhile, Olivia goes to the bathroom. She then goes back to her room, turns on the light and starts reading. At 4am!!!! Cassidy is fast asleep so I'm torn- do I wake Cassidy up to get Olivia back to bed? Or do I leave Olivia reading at this ungodly hour so that I can get Cassidy back to sleep quickly? I chose to let Cassidy sleep. So Olivia is in there reading her little home reader. Level 2 by the way. I sighed a big sigh of relief when I saw she got a new book. Then she gets her new Corpus Christi library book and reads that too. At least she's being productive. So I finally put Cassidy down so that I can go get Olivia back to sleep but I put Cassidy down to soon and she starts fussing. I manage to get Olivia back to bed despite her protests then I"m off to get Cassidy settled. Finally I'm back in bed at 5:05am. I can't fall asleep b/c I feel like one of the littel ones is going to wake me up so what's the point? Just as I'm relaxing, Cassidy cries. It's 5:24am. Dude, seriously? I lie there just too tired to move. She must have felt the same b/c about 5 mins later she's quiet. I think I slept a bit more but someone's usually up by 6:30am. It's not even light out by then. By about 9am I feel like it's time to serve lunch. Someone told me that one day I'll get them all back when their teenagers. Insert evil laugh....

Look what we found in our strawberry patch today! We have a few late blooms and some itty bitty green strawberries.

Today Lexie went to her new preschool at the community centre. Her teachers seem nice and the room is really nice. I peeked at her full class list and it looks like there are 10 girls and 10 boys. The highlight of Lexie's day? She got snacktime!!! She was so excited.

The picture of Olivia at kindergarten is getting clearer. She had gym today which meant she wore her blue shorts and yellow shirt under her uniform. She also had library and was excited that she got to bring home one of her favourite books "Diary of a Worm". It came home in a really nice reusable bag. Olivia also has a home reader book that she is to read and then when she is able to read it back to the teacher with no mistakes she gets the next level. Well, she read it to the teacher's assistant and it got sent back. Dammit. I know it shouldn't bother me but it does. The book is so easy but she rushes through it. I couldn't help but notice that the little boy ahead of her is on level 4. I must not compare. I must not compare. Back to good news- Olivia was invited to her first birthday party from her k class!!! The bad news is what to do about Lexie? It's getting to that point that Olivia will have to go to birthday parties alone. I don't know the parents and it's at a community centre so I know there are limits on how many kids. This will be tricky situation....

Updates!

The bouncy chair has to be packed away now. Cassidy is really into trying to sit up lately.

Day two of kindergarten went well. Apparently yesterday Mrs. T was strict with the boys but not with Olivia. I told Olivia she must have been so well behaved!

I haven't gotten alot of info out of Olivia but I know she has been enjoying herself.

So excited about school!

Olivia and Lexie are the best of friends. This summer they have spent many hours playing together and building up their life long friendship. It's been really great to watch them together. For the first couple years of Olivia's life she was the centre of our universe. I got pregnant a second time just so she could have a sibling. When I had a girl I was ecstatic. I always wanted a sister and I had built up this fantasy about sisters. Don't get me wrong I know things won't always be rainbows and sunshines but what I've learned over the years through other sisters is that no matter what happens, a sister is there for you. Things are changing for my little girls. Olivia is off to kindergarten and Lexie is off to preschool. Today was the first day for both of them. My Aunt Laurie came over to help with the chaos that comes with two school schedules plus a nap schedule.

First up was Miss Olivia and Corpus Christi. She excitedly got her uniform on and off we walked. It was nice to hang out with just Olivia. She held my hand and chatted about kindergarten. Today was just a meeting with Mrs. T. The first thing she did was a little assessment of Olivia. I had to bite my tongue when I saw the sheet b/c I thought "that's way too easy for Olivia, she knows that all!" The first question was "When is your birthday?" Olivia thinks and thinks. She totally knows her b-day. Just as Mrs. T is saying "That's okay if you don't know it..." Olivia answers "Well, I know it's March 11th but I don't know when that is." We're always counting down to things so she must have been trying to figure out how many days until her b-day! Then is was colours (easy!) numbers, shapes, print your name and then letters. Olivia breezed through the letters. She even caught on when one letter was duplicated! Because Olivia knew all her letters she was given a little book to take home and read. Again, I had to bite my tongue. I wanted to say "Oh, that's way too easy for Olivia." but I didn't. This book is one of those books that goes "Look at John. Come John. See John." An example of a book Olivia can read is a science reader we got through Scholastic that has words like Earth, space, universe, and giant dwarf. Mrs. T is quite firm and was very strict with Olivia when she was doing the assessment. She did it in a nice way but you can tell she does not accept any nonsense.

Then it was Lexie's turn. Off we went to Killarney Park Preschool, a totally familiar environment for Lexie. Olivia stayed behind with Aunt Laurie so as not to distract Lexie. Lexie was so cute the way she marched confidently into the preschool room. She has always been Miss Independent. She only spent half an hour today at preschool but she played nicely the whole time. (There was one crier!) I am worried though because in her class of 14 students there are only 2 other girls! I'm hoping she just won't notice. She is also going to be going to Killarney Community Centre preschool on Tuesdays and Thursdays so hopefully there are some more girls in that class.

Tomorrow Olivia starts her regular hours for kindergarten. Lexie doesn't go back to preschool until Tuesday. I'm kinda freaking out about the schedules and making sure Miss Cassidy gets in her naps. I'm off to pack a snack and get ready for school!

More Kelowna

Here's Olivia and Lexie sitting in front of the fire on the patio that Uncle Willy made out of rocks from the lake. Uncle Willy brought up roasting marshmallows but it didn't happen this time. Uncle Willy, Olivia remembered the marshmallows so we'll have to do that next time!

This is the girls with J and E. E is Joyce's niece and joined us even though she had gotten home from her family vacation at 1am!

All the girls with Gram! Or as they call her- G.G. Look how cute my gram is!!! I love this picture b/c of the way Olivia is looking at J.

This is what it would be like if I had 4 girls. Gorgeous!!!

Lexie with Grandpa Knox posing in front of the lake with a view of the wharf. Calm in the whirlwind of the Sardinhas.

I forgot all about the morning Cassidy woke up at 4:30 am all ready to get going with her day. She did this to us in Oregon too. She originally woke up around 4am and I nursed her back to sleep. I tried to put her back in the playpen but that only worked for a few minutes. I tried to get her to sleep in our bed but she lay there and cooed, oohed & ahhed. Normally I love those little sounds but at 4:30am they are not cool. NOT COOL CASSIDY! I alternated between trying to nurse her back to sleep, rocking her & patting her back & "shushing" her. None worked. I took her into the bathroom and just hung out with and changed her diaper. Went back into the room at 6am and nursing finally worked. She slept int my arms until about 7:35. It was so uncomfortable! I was so sore afterwards but she got a little more rest so it was worth it.

Last getaway of summer 2010

Since Dan and I love late bedtimes, early wakings and sugary roadtrip snacks that make the girls hyper, NOT! we decided to drive up to Kelowna! We left at 9am on Thursday and arrived in Kelowna at 2:30. We had a pretty smooth trip except for the traffic hell at Abbotsford. Seriously, who closes a lane on a highway that's only 2 lanes to begin with??? The icing on that cake was when we drove by the construction part and they weren't anywhere near the highway!!! I'm no construction expert (even though I should be b/c it's summer in Vancouver and that means lots of it) that lane could have been open!!! Anyways, when we arrived in Kelowna we unloaded our stuff at G-pa's and headed off to see G-pa's & Joyce's new house. The house overlooks Okanogan Lake and is going to be pretty fabulous when it's finished. Olivia wasn't all that impressed. She said "I want to go back to the other house." We did see some pretty cool stink bugs though. Then there was more travelling to go to the lake- aka Auntie Betty and Uncle Willy's house. Here we got to hang out with family in a gorgeous setting and just relax. My cousin Linnea's 9 year old daughter J was there with a friend and they were kind enough to look after the girls. Woo hoo!!!! I need J to move to Vancouver and be our babysitter. (Seriously, if you know of any lovely girls (or boys) who would like to make some money babysitting let me know!)

The highlight of the day had to be when the big girls and Dan with G-pa Knox, J, her friend M & Uncle Willy went out on the speed boat. We hung out, ate pizza and went swimming. That night the girls- all 3 of them- didn't get to sleep until about 10pm. The sleeping that night wasn't too bad. Olivia and Lexie slept on a blow up queen mattress and "slept in" until about 6:45. Miss Cassidy slept until 5:18am which is pretty awesome. She wouldn't go back down in the play pen and slept in our bed for about half an hour.

Our second day in Kelowna was a pretty busy one. We took the girls out to the playground close to G-pa's place first. Then it was off to Auntie Betty's place to pick up J, who offered to help us out. We then went to a beach near Oyama called Kaloya. We hung out at Kalamalka Lake (I think that's what it's called?) where the water is a pretty blue-green. See the picture with the weeping willow and turquoise water? That's where we spent a few hours. The girls swam, played on the playground and swam some more. We packed up our stuff and off we went to visit G.G. (great grandma- my grandma who is 96 years old!) at her care home. Next to grams place was a farmers market where we got some fruit to bring back home. It was the cutest farmer's market with people who were clearly proud of their produce & the fact that they didn't use chemicals or pesticides. They let Olivia and Lexie sample some fruit too. Your mouth is going to water when you hear what we got: peaches-yummy, perfectly ripe peaches, peaches & cream type corn & a blueberry nectarine pie. After picking out our fruit we were off to the lake for a last visit. This time I got to go swimming too. Getting into the lake is quite the ordeal. It feels so cold at first and it's kinda a shock to your body. It's easiest to just get it over with and get yourself in quickly. Once I had been in for a minute or so it felt wonderful. It was 72 degrees (or 22 celsius) and really felt like a swimming pool. Olivia and Lexie had these little Toy Story themed boats that they loved and felt really comfortable in so they spent a lot more time in the water this time and didn't want to leave!

I'm sure I'm forgetting some of the wonderful, fun stuff we did while we were there. We really packed a lot into 2 days. See the next post for more photos.

Last of the hot summer days

Dan took the big girls to the Aquarium and Stanley Park for the day. I stayed home with Cassidy so that I could clean up the girls room before school starts.

So tired....no energy for descriptions of the pictures. Cassidy has been super fussy. I keep feeling for a tooth but nothing yet.