Heading out

FYI-
Looks like we're heading out tomorrow on the cruise.

A thanksgiving to remember

Jim's down and out with Norah's virus too. Norah is still having issues from both ends. Thankfully, after a rough night, Lolo seems back to her old self today and thoroughly enjoyed watching the Thanksgiving day parade. Please pray that everyone finishes up with this virus before our trip on Sunday. It's a real bear.

More news

For future reference, a baking soda/vinegar paste with a toothbrush seemed to work fairly well on the car seat. I'll be doing round 4 on the car tonight.
Jim changed Norah this morning for the first time since this whole viral outbreak has hit us. I told him it was his turn after 3 days of just me. He was pretty grossed out. Funny when you think about it - since he's supposed to be medical....he was crying about the lack of gloves in our home.
Sadly, Lolo has caught the virus. Ugh. The washer/dryer seems to be in constant motion these days. On the bright side, if she was going to catch the bug, I'd rather it be BEFORE the cruise rather than DURING the cruise. She's down for a rare nap this afternoon. So, you know she's not feeling well.
We've canceled our big Thanksgiving celebration at our home in light of Lolo's situation....we had to uninvite guests this afternoon. We're delivering food tomorrow to everyone we invited since our house is "broke out" with food for Thanksgiving. We'll just have our own private party at home.
Wish you could all be here, but of course, if you lived in town, we'd probably have uninvited you as well ;-)
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.

About Christmas....

Just so everyone knows.....
Lolo has heard about Santa. And this is the most important part....Santa only brings ONE toy to every good boy and girl. His elf, Coldilocks (who lives at the North Pole and is distantly related to Goldilocks), is busy making the toys and can't make more than one for every good kid in the world.
Before you say, Poor Lolo, we all know she will be getting more than one present this christmas...just not from Santa.

Pics of the day

The girls have been having a great time in Lolo's new princess "tent". Jim says to please don't call this a "doghouse". Lolo apparently gets really upset. "No daddy, it's not a dog house. It's got princesses on it!"

Please ignore Norah's crustiness.

Ideas?

Can't find a good solution via google. Anyone have any ideas on how to get vomit out of velcro? I think that's where the smell is coming from in the car. I've febreezed and washed Norah's seat again but I can't seem to get everything out of the velcro. Darn the car seat manufacturers. What were they thinking?! Don't they have kids of their own?!

Reminder

We will be out of town Nov 26-Dec 3. Heading out on a cruise to St Thomas, St Maarten, and an island in the Bahamas. Won't be blogging on the cruise. Let's keep our fingers crossed that no one will catch Norah's bug and we'll be able to go.

Update

Norah is still suffering from her virus. Ick. I've been airing out the car...still smells bad - even with the Febreeze and Lysol and washing. I'll try another round in a bit.
Norah woke up this morning around 4am. Stayed up for about an hour. When she finally went down, Lolo woke up at 5am to go potty and then wanted in our bed. Fine. Then after about 30 minutes she decided she was hungry. Jim had left to go to the gym already. I was not inclined to get out of bed. Lolo went downstairs, turned on the lights, helped herself to a cup of yogurt, and then climbed back into bed with me. I don't know when she turned into such a big girl.
Later this morning, Lolo is getting dressed. She picked out her own outfit (red shirt, red pants). And was putting on her panties....she manages to pull the panties up almost all the way up to her armpits. She looks at all the coverage on her tummy (the panties are on backwards but I don't have the heart or energy to tell her to start over). And starts to crack up about how big her panties are...then she asks me "Are these yours?!"

Getting dressed

I forgot to mention....
Lolo and I are changing outfits this afternoon (as a result of the incident with Norah in the car and while getting her upstairs into the bathtub). I'm helping Lolo get her pants on . She's standing on one leg balancing and says "Look Mama. I amazing!"
Yes, girl, you sure are!

When it rains, it pours....

Poor Norah. She's now got a virus on top of her ear infection. This morning, Norah suffered from vomiting. No problem. I figured it was because she was congested and the drainage had made her nauseous. Went to Lolo's swim lesson as usual. On the way back, things were coming out in huge quantities (for a little girl) from both ends. Ugh. Double the fun - and let's just say that stuff does not come out of velco very easily.
Lolo has been a trooper. A big girl helper. She's downstairs watching Curious George on PBS right now as a treat. Yep. I always said I wouldn't do it, but I'm using PBS as a babysitter today for a break.

A trip to the ER

We made a trip to the ER yesterday afternoon. Norah was running a fever that even with tylenol, I couldn't seem to get lower than 103. So after talking to the nurse (both Vicki and Jim were on call and unreachable), Norah and I headed to the ER (Lolo went over to Willem's house for dinner and more playtime). Originally when I called the pediatrician's office, I was just checking on the right dosing of tylenol (figuring I could just double dose - note : don't do this...double dosing apparently causes liver damage so it's a good thing I checked)....anyway, the nurse's alarm over Norah's temperature and the fact that her leg was swelled and red sent us into the ER. I was thinking it was probably a reaction to the shots that Norah got on friday. Turns out, Norah's white blood cell count was "quite high" according to the resident ("really high" according to the attending). Norah got a double shot of antibiotic (poor girl has been a human pincushion the past couple of days) and a course of antibiotic to take for the next 10 days. They said it was an ear infection. I, personally, find it highly suspect that we were just in the doctor's office getting checked out on friday and she was fine....then she gets shots and all of a sudden the next day we're in the ER with a high fever and infection? Anyway, Norah is still battling a slight fever today but she's perked up to her usual self (and getting into loads of trouble).

Oh Daddy!

This morning, our brave girl Lolo, saw her daddy (he's been on call this week)....she got all weepy and started to tell him how her arm hurt because of the shots. . Sympathy from daddy. Give me a break.

Sassing

Seems I should explain about sassing. The rule in our house is - if you sass mom (or dad), it's an automatic naughty step. This afternoon, while playing in her new "princess" tent, Lolo put Ariel the Mermaid on the naughty step....seems Ariel was sassing Lolo.....

Unbelieveable conversation

Here's a conversation I never thought I'd have....after we came home from the doctor's office, Lolo would periodically ask me "Why Norah got 3 shots? Why I only got 2? I need 3 shots. I three." Lolo was genuinely upset that she got "short-changed" in the shot department. Unbelieveable.

Minor emergency

Last night, I've got the girls in the bathroom. Norah is already in the tub. Lolo is doing her business on the potty. I'm washing Norah and Lolo suddenly yelps out..."HELP!" Somehow she's gotten off of the potty, taken the potty seat, put the seat over her head with an arm through, and got herself stuck. As I was attempting to work the seat off of over her head (which was no minor feat), I was a bit concerned about having to take her to the ER and explain how my daughter ended up with a Sesame Street seat in such a position.
FYI - it took some doing, but the seat is obviously off, and we didn't have to go to the ER. (Whew).

I wonder...

I overhead Lolo say to Norah this morning...."Norah, you quit sassing me!"
Hmmm. I wonder where she heard that one? LOL.

Pediatrician visit

Both girls went in for their pediatrician visit today. Lolo is now 38 inches tall and 38.5 lbs. 80th and 90th percentile respectively. Norah has moved up from the 20th percentile to both 25th percentile in height and weight (18lbs) ...but her head still carries on the family tradition - 75th percentile (18.25").
Another moment of pride...Lolo and I had been talking about the doctor's office and what to expect (ie shots, weight, blood pressure, etc)....I told her it would hurt a bit and that she might cry when she got her shots. Instead, our big girl didn't cry a bit when she got her shots(she was busy picking out her stickers). Later, Lolo says to me "You thought I might cry, but I didn't." Norah didn't make a peep after her first shot, but by the time they got around to the third shot, she was onto the doctor and howled loud enough and long enough to make up for both kids.

When Norah rules

For a few precious moments after Norah and I drop Lolo off at school, we come home and Norah rules the roost. Norah gets about 20-30 minutes of playtime where she gets to play with whatever toys she wants to (without interruption or comment from Lolo). Then, it's off for her morning nap. But what a great time Norah has with the toys for those moments....it's as if she becomes the firstborn.

Norah signs

Norah has started to use sign language. I couldn't believe it. Last night as we sat down to dinner, Norah made the sign for "milk". Woo hoo! Of course, Jim thinks it's a fluke...kind of like how Lolo and I brag about how Norah is not just a "wrecker" when it comes to blocks, but she's a "builder" too. (FYI- Lolo and I are builders.) Jim thinks Norah's still a wrecker.

Lolo-byes and other musings

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Lolo probably won't have a self-esteem problem. Lately, she's been playing a Disney lullabys cd, laying down with her stuffed dog, polar bear, and whom ever else is deemed to be in her inner circle at the time (and it's never Norah)....then singing her "Lolo-byes". It's like she believes the songs are just for her.
Yesterday, when Willem was over for the playdate, they were in the living room listening to her Lolo-byes....after a while I overheard her trying to tell him what to do...."I going to be the teacher. You do this." Without a doubt, Lolo is a first born.

Trip girl vs Home girl

Lolo announces the other day, "I not a Home Girl. I a Trip Girl." What does that mean? Well, it looks like our Trip Girl got the travel bug gene from us and has decided she is ready to get on a jet plane and go on a trip. Doesn't really help that her buddy, Willem, has parents with adventurous spirits too...Willem was here for a play date this afternoon and they are playing jet plane...the two are debating about where to go...Sao Paulo or Mexico? Somehow I don't think Jim nor I were having these conversations with our friends when we were three.

Too bad...

Well, Lolo and Jim didn't get to go bowling after all. The bowling alley was rented out for a private party. Darn. Instead, they went next door and Lolo got to eat pie and have hot chocolate. Lolo was so cute. She came charging inside and said "Mama, we didn't go bowling. I got a treat!" She apparently not only shared Jim's pie, but worked on Eileen's pie as well. That girl's got her mama's sweet tooth.

Birthdays

Today we were talking about Norah's birthday. We asked Lolo, "how do you know when it's somebody's birthday?" Our brilliant girl looks as us as if we're slow "you always have birthday cake on your birthday." Duh mom.
We went out for dinner tonight with Eileen and Julia's family. The girls had a blast. Norah and I came home early since it was Norah's bedtime. Lolo and Jim are out bowling with the girls. I can't wait to hear all about Lolo's first time bowling. All day long she was just giddy with excitement about dinner and bowling with Eileen and Julia.

Happy Birthday Sweet Norah

Let's try a video again.
Birthday video from tonight below. By the way, Lolo decided it's her birthday AND Norah's birthday. Seems Lolo can't get enough birthdays.

Happy Birthday to My Baby Girl

It's hard to believe our baby girl will turn 1 tomorrow. We celebrated Norah's birthday tonight with a "quiet" family celebration (though I guess, it is never really quiet around here). I never did get around to baking a frog cake.....but taste-wise I think this cake (sponge cake with bavarian cream and raspberry filling) got better reviews. Norah couldn't get enough of the cream and Lolo just loved the sugar-high....even Jim went back for seconds.

More words

And to brag on our other gorgeous girl....Norah is just such a joy these days....she just grins at just about everyone....at the store, on our walks, she's just so friendly and smiley. Plus, she's increasingly verbal. To Jim's delight, she's starting to say "Dad" and "Yeah".

Lolo's first "report card"

I went to Lolo's first parent-teacher conference the other day. As you can imagine, her teacher only had stellar things to say about our girl. It took Lolo a while to warm up to the environment. I think she's alot like me and Jim in that regard. Now that she's comfortable there, her teachers say she's doing great and is "very mature" and has a "very long attention span."

Preschool pictures

Lolo got her first school picture the other day. She's such a big girl.

And it's ok, you can go ahead and say it....she's the best looking kid in the class isn't she?

Another first....

Norah received her first sibling-induced-injury tonight. Lolo popped her in the nose with her milk bottle. Got her pretty good....a nice solid bloody nose. Good thing Jim was home. I never seem to deal really well with blood.
In other news, we've been pretty much keeping with our regular schedule this week. School, gym, playtime. Jim took Lolo and Willem (her new best friend on the block) to the playground this afternoon. Willem is about 4 months younger than Lolo and his brother Michael is 3 months older than Norah. Another neat thing....the boys' mom is chinese and their dad is dutch. Willem always seems a little surprised when I speak to him in chinese.

Elvis

The other day, Jim was teasing Norah-Katie about her "Elvis legs" (how her legs move when she's trying to walk). Lolo overhead the comment, lifts up her shirt and says "Look, I got Elvis tummy." Yep. Elvis tummy from the 70s.
Jim's off this week. We're staying home and catching up on all the not-so-fun stuff we need to do but haven't quite gotten around to doing (doctor's appointments, dentist appointments, fall clean up, etc). Will probably also try to do another water park day. Yes, we're addicted to the water park.

A recap of the last couple of days

It's been chaos here. At our playdate yesterday, we had 9 little ones (and moms) show up. As you know, it's loud here with two....multiplied by the excitement of 7 additional friends....whew. I'm looking forward to the next neighborhood playdate at someone else's home. In the midst of chaos, Norah took FOUR unassisted steps!!! Unfortunately, she has yet to replicate the feat for Jim.
In other news, Norah has also discovered the joy of unraveling toilet paper. It seems like it was just yesterday that we were using paper that Lolo had so joyously unraveled and now, Norah has caught the bug. And what else does our Norah love to do? At bathtime, if I get distracted with Lolo (before I put naked Norah in the tub), Norah loves to take clothes and throw them into the tub (joyously cackling the whole time). I can't tell you how many times, I've had to take wet socks out of the tub in the last couple of weeks.
Lastly, after Lolo came home from school, we went to David's home for a playdate today. It was so nice to have a quiet, well-behaved playdate. Lolo and David really play remarkably well together. Norah mixed it up with them for a bit, had snacks with the kids, and then napped in a quiet room.
Another playdate tomorrow afternoon and then some peace (hopefully) by sunday......

Sweet Lolo-style

Lolo wanted three hairbows in her hair this morning and proceeded to instruct me on where they should be placed. Then, she sat down in front of an air vent and worked on her hair some more. How did we end up with such an opinionated girly-girl? LOL!

(And yes, that is how she went to school today).

More Halloween

Yeah, her birthday week was great, but now, Lolo is ready for "more Halloween!" She really had a great time the other night and is ready to do it again.

We've still got Norah's birthday (and the frog cake dilemma), Thanksgiving, and Christmas (Lolo has already decided Jesus needs balloons for His birthday)....I'm ready for January. October about wore me out.

Halloween night

Lolo and some neighborhood kids went out trick-or-treating last night with their dads. I don't know why, but in our neighborhood, it's always the dads that take the kids out and the moms stay home handing out candy. Norah and I stayed back and doled out playdoh and chocolate. The playdoh was a surprisingly big hit. We'll probably do that again. I'm just not really excited about the whole candy aspect of Halloween.

The one disappointment of the evening, Norah had to go down for bed around 6:30pm. I put a big bowl of chocolate and a big bowl of playdoh outside with a sign for the kids. While putting Norah down, I could hear 2 groups of kids come up to our house. One of these groups cleaned us out. Very disappointing. By the time I came downstairs, our neighbors (with 5 little ones) were disappointed because we didn't have anything set out. Anyway, I had a bit more inside that, thankfully, didn't fit in the big bowls outside (and because I figured since I was only gone for less than 30 minutes, we'd have plenty to give away) so Lolo and Jim ran some playdoh and chocolate down the street.

It's a big week for Lolo. We've got a neighborhood playgroup meeting at our home this afternoon (after she gets back from school). And tomorrow we're going over to David's home to play. Friday is kind of our day off to catch up. And a dinner party is scheduled for saturday night. Whew.