Halloween weekend

The girls have been dressing up for a few days now. This weekend was so fun for them b/c they got to live in their costumes! They had a couple parties where they got to do some fun games and activities. We still haven't taken them trick or treating. Since we start the bedtime routine at like 6:15pm it makes doing stuff at night difficult. But I really love my time when the girls are sleeping. I just can't give that time up. Miss Cassidy had a hard time going to sleep. It's the second time in about a week and both nights are after having broccoli for dinner. I knew that stuff was evil.

In other Cassidy news, a second tooth on top has poked through. None on the bottom yet. She's also climbing. She climbs up on the hearth of our fireplace, the stairs if the gate is left open and the little fuzzy character chairs. I can't turn away from her for more than a few seconds! I thought I was getting nothing done before....now it's just impossible to get things done b/c I'm always chasing her around. And I vacuum multiple times a day now and scan the floor for little things but she still manages to find things that she shouldn't.

Little Miss Cassidy!

Still sucking her thumb! She'll be 8 months next week. She's enjoying eating the same food as us: chicken soup from Avo, rice, pasta, ground beef plus the typical fruit and veggie purees. She has always wanted to feed herself. She doesn't do that typical baby thing where they open their mouth and you put the spoon in. She has to grab the spoon and put it in herself. It is so messy. Our laundry has doubled since she's started solids. Not only do her clothes get so messy but mine do too.

We have a tooth! Finally. Olivia got hers at 6 months, and Alexis got hers at about 6.5 months. And both of theirs were on the bottom but Cassidy's tooth is her front top one. I"m hoping once more teeth pop through she'll sleep more. Oh the dreams I dream....

Cassidy is a real busy bee too. She gets around so quickly and tries to pull herself up on everything. You can see she's trying so hard to move her legs and cruise but she's still pretty wobbly.

Edited to add: if it looks like Olivia is wearing her pj's in the top photo, that's b/c she is. I've started letting her wear her pj's to drop off/pick up Lexie. It's just soooooo much easier to do that. Otherwise I"m battling her in the morning and then again when it's time to go to kindergarten. Can't believe I didn't think of it sooner.

My little fairies!

Olivia is a watermelon fairy and Lexie is a bumble bee fairy. They have been wearing their costumes for a few days now. Alexis had a little party on Thursday. I decided to make cupcakes. From scratch! Why did I do that? That's what I kept asking myself as I was slaving away making them. And the homemade frosting to go with them. I also got these cute pumpkin jujubes to go on top. By the way, Cassidy is a flower thanks to my friend Erin. And her friends at Pottery Barn Kids. I'll post pics as soon as I take one of her.
Christmas is 56 days away and I'm pretty much done my Christmas shopping for the girls! I just hope no one announces they want something new. Alexis is generally easy going and I think she'll be so happy with whatever toys she gets. Olivia is a little more....well, high strung. She has been saying for awhile now that she wants a toy camera.

That's what she's getting. Even if she changes her mind.

Dan and I have some differences when it comes to Christmas presents. I guess it's more that I'm thinking with my heart and Dan is thinking more with his head. It's a good balance because I'm feeling accountable and wanting to stay on budget. I gave myself a budget but I do stockings as well so I've had to up my budget. Toys r Us had a bunch of stuff I wanted on sale plus a scratch and save. So I go in with Cassidy and pile up the toys. I scratched 15% so I was pretyt happy about that. After I pay I'm walking away thinking that I spent more than I thought I would. So I check my receipt and sure enough they forgot to give me the sale price on a couple items. So I go back and this is where it turns messy. I have to wait about 20 mins just to get to the till. EVERYTIME I go into Toys r Us I have to wait. Then the girl doesn't know how to give me the sale price so she ends up returning everything and rebuying it. And she couldn't give me the 15% off again!!! I was so annoyed about that but needed to get the heck out of there. I had to rush home to get Olivia to kindergarten, not to mention I had to pee so badly. And Cassidy had a poo in her diaper. It took forever to re-ring the things in b/c there seemed to be so many interruptions! I ended up with everything I wanted and it was all on sale so I feel good about that. But I'm still super annoyed I didn't get my 15% off. I phoned Toys R Us to complain and they said someone would get back to me in 3-5 business days. Of course. I mean, it takes at least 20 mins to wait in line at their store so I wouldn't expect anything less. I know I should just let it go. Being a mom to little ones means letting go of alot of things. Like the mess that is constantly hovering around every surface in my home.

Living the disgusting life

Once you have kids, the levels of disgusting you get to are unimaginable. I guess it all starts at the hospital when they tell you to count your babies poop and look for color and consistency. Eww really? Isn't poo just poo? Oh no. And then there's the first poop itself. Black, thick, sticky and utterly disgusting. But you wait for it to come out and you rejoice when it does. Poop just becomes a way of life. It's still a way of life when your five and a half year old still asks you (and other family members!) to wipe their bum. Not mentioning any names here....Then there's all the food that gets dropped and doesn't get picked up until the stench in the car is noticable. I shouldn't forget about the sippy cups that get left lying around to fester and get moldy. Those are fun, especially in the summer. Lastly, are the boogers. Yup, the boogers. And the snot. Enough said.
So there's a diaper bag that had been sitting at our table for a couple months. We had unloaded it when we came back from Oregon (in August!) and I had just never needed it, so there it sat. Until Olivia moved it and cried out "Oh it's all wet underneath!" Eww...I know what that means- rotten food inside. Don't do what I did and look inside. Why oh why did I look inside??? Out comes this cloud of fruit flies! Oh my god....I run around trying to kill them all. But it's impossible so I turn back to the bag. My first thought is I should just throw it away. But they're saddle bags that go with our Phil and Ted's double stroller and were a gift from Mike and Bern. So I take it outside and rinse the crap out of it. I fill it water and dump it out so many times. Here comes the disgusting part....seriously people don't read on if you get queasy easily. Like you mom. So inside my Phil and Ted's saddle bag are.....m.....blech....maggots. Little fruit fly maggots. Thank god they're not the kind you see on CSI but gross enough. It hung outside for a month or so until recently when it came back inside. I was so wary to use it. The memory of that day still fresh in my mind, I turned it inside out. It looks okay but I still have to clean it again. I scrubbed it vigorously and now I feel okay using it again.

Swimming lessons

Lexie is a Sea Turtle and Olivia is a Crocodile. Lexie was the only one in her class this Saturday so she got some one on one instruction. I got to talk to both instructors before class and both girls have to work on their back floats. Olivia's teacher even said she's a good listener!!!! Her last teachers said the opposite but we've talked to her and talked to her about listening and it's finally paid off!!! Dan and I love swimming lessons now. We don't have to get in the water with them and it's super cheap. Thanks to Grandma Knox who came to the lessons to help me b/c Dan was doing some of our volunteer hours at Olivia's school.

Two new tricks at once!

Cassidy is now an official "thumb sucker" and she's pulling herself up to standing on anything that she can. So here she is doing her two new hobbies at the same time.

And look at the 3 girls reading! Both of the big sisters love reading to little sister. I love how they're all contained. I was able to run around putting clothes and toys away for a good 15 minutes.

Scary movies

I hate scary movies. It has never stopped me from watching them though. Afterwards, when I'm totally freaked out, I ask myself why the hell I did that? My first memory of scary movies is when a babysitter was watching something scary and I caught bits and pieces of it. It had something to do with a scary house and someone's dead mother in the attic rocking in a rocking chair. Then there was the time when I was the babysitter and the kids had gone to bed. I was channel flicking and ended up watching Friday the 13th. The one with Jason & his hockey mask. Just before he would kill he would make this creepy sound like "Ch ch ch ch, ha ha ha ha" Rationally, it all sounds ridiculous. Logically, I know it's all fake and most of it couldn't possibly happen. But still it all freaks me out. One time I read a book with scary stories. Things like spiders that lay eggs under skin, hook armed escaped convicts trying to get into cars and mutilated co-eds scratching at doors trying to get away from murderers. Weird how I remember all those stories. I was so scared I had to sleep in my brothers room for a few days. Umm...I guess that sounds a little weird. In case you're wondering, he had twin beds.

I like watching crime shows like Law & Order, CSI and Criminal Minds. Criminal Minds is probably the scariest. But it was CSI this past Thursday that has me totally freaked out. The criminal or in Criminal Minds known as the "Unsub" (unknown subject) would first attack his victims and tell them to confess. When they didn't he came back a week later and killed them. Why oh why would you not confess??? Seriously people. But the way he killed has my skin crawling. It was the way he moved- like a spider or some animal on all fours. Like that freaky little girl from "The Ring". Oh God, The Ring, now there's another movie that has scarred me for life. It took me years to stop thinking that she was going to get me when I was going to the bathroom at night. Even though I hadn't watched the video, she was still going to get me. Now I get up alot at night. Sometimes to tend to babies & kids, sometimes to go to the bathroom and sometimes for no reason at all. And what does my mind wander too? Of course the creepy unsub from CSI. But I can't ask myself why I watched it b/c I had no clue it was going to be so creepy. I watched it at 7pm!!! So now I must go and fill my head with wonderful images. I'll start with this one:

71 days until Christmas!

I can't believe how time flies. It's already well into October and I'm thinking about what to get the girls for Christmas! We celebrated Thanksgiving at Dan's parents and had a fabulous turkey dinner with all the trimmings plus more! Little Miss Cassidy has been doing awesome with her naps and had a little nap in the afternoon. It was a great day.

We've fallen into a nice routine here during the week. CRAZY! But nice. We drop Lexie off at preschool then come straight home and I put Cassidy down for a nap. She's now at the point where I can put her down awake and she goes to sleep without making any noises. She's found her thumb so she uses that to soothe herself. At first she would only suck on her thumb when she was tired but she does it all the time now. It's so cute! Neither of my other girls have ever sucked their thumbs. I've been wanting to get a picture but our batteries died and I haven't had a chance to change them. She doesn't close her fingers so she's got her little fingers sticking straight up! Got off track there....back to our routine. I hang out with Olivia in the am while Cassidy sleeps. We pick Lexie up and come home for lunch. Everyday it's a battle to get Olivia to eat and get dressed. We walk to Corpus Christi where we look for the chickens in our neighbour's yard, cross the dangerous crosswalk at 49th Ave & then play a bit in the school yard. Olivia and Lexie met 2nd cousins of their's on the first day. It was actually kind of a fluke. One of the girls came up to see Cassidy but didn't know who we were. Since then Olivia and Lexie look for the two sisters and play with them. Olivia does so well with older girls. She really looks up to them. It's so cute to watch. Today the younger girl, who's in grade 4, came back from an overnight trip. We couldn't go home until Olivia and Lexis had seen her! So after school Olivia and Lexie just play hard core! Their imaginations go into overdrive.

Little Miss Lexie hasn't cried lately at drop off! She'll say to me "I'm not going to cry today" and then when she's done she'll say so proudly "I didn't cry today!" I think the big difference is she now has some friends that she looks forward to seeing. There's I (a boy) at Killarney Park. He's a brother of a boy Olivia went to school with. I watched them on the playground and she kept hugging him and even kissed him! Then there's A & M at the community centre. Both little girls also cried when their moms left but their all getting more confident.

Back to Miss Cassidy. She's pulling herself up to standing now. I have to really keep an eye on her b/c she'll try to stand up on things that aren't stable. Like the cradle for dolls. She tipped it over and bonked herself in the face! No bruises though, just a big red mark.

On to Miss Olivia....she's getting better but she's still pretty difficult. After school has been hard. It's like she's worked so hard at being so good all afternoon and then just comes apart with me. Things that Olivia has cried over:

-I wouldn't carry her 5 books and toys down the stairs (I had Cassidy and told her she needed to take less or make 2 trips)

-Lexie wouldn't do what she wanted

-her navy blue socks were in the wash and she had to wear white socks to school (gasp!)

and so many other things.....

But everytime I come onto this blog and review it I feel so blessed. During the day it's so hectic that it's hard to stop and feel lucky. Of course when they're in bed and quietly sleeping, it's so easy to feel so lucky! Aren't sleeping babies so loverly???!!!

Walkathon!

Well, Olivia did it. She walked 5 km. I don't have any pictures b/c I didn't go on the walk with them. I thought they were just walking around the school but they had a course around the neighborhood. It was far! For anyone that knows our area, the course went from Victoria Drive and all the way up to Killarney Community Centre. It drizzled a bit but no full on rain. After she had done her walk she got a hot dog and juice box. Another mom said she did great! I am so proud of her! I know if I had gone with her she would have complained and wanted to go in the stroller.

Updates

I don't have any recent pictures so I'm going to post ones of Olivia and Lexie when they were 7 months old.

First picture is of Olivia.

Alexis- She was doing so well at preschool but last week and this week she's been crying when I leave. It breaks my heart! She's such a quiet cryer. There are lots of kids who cry (in both classes) so it may just be that their crying sets her off. Thankfully she doesn't cry for long. She's making friends too.

Cassidy- fingers crossed, knock on wood, double jinx and everything else superstitious.....Cassidy has been napping and sleeping well!!! Woo hoo! I just hope it keeps up. She's been sick with diarrhea too. Her poor little bum! But she was much better today. Only one instance of minor diarrhea. And somehow through her illness she's been sleeping well. Cassidy has discovered her thumb too. She seems to do it when she's tired. There have been times when I put her down in her crib and she cries out. She then starts sucking on her thumb and totally goes back to sleep!

Olivia- still loving kindergarten! Her and Lexie play Mrs. T & Mrs. M. So cute. She's got her walkathon on Friday. I'll get some pics and post those.