Ah No!

This is what I found when I came downstairs from going to the bathroom. Celie playing nicely with her sticker book and Anna drawing on her paper - but sitting ON the table. Ah, No! (but of course after I took a picture of it.

Tough Decision

Bob and I had to make a tough decision.

We have decided to not send Celie off to Preschool this year. The main reason is because she has to be fully potty trained to go and she isn't. I started this week - potty training - and by the 3rd hour & 2nd accident in big girl underwear - she had no desire to sit on the big potty or little potty - not even fully clothed. She wouldn't even come into the bathroom with me to check things out. I can see that it is going to be a struggle. But I do not want to push her because she has been through a lot. However, because she is such a big kid, she has outgrown almost all of the diapers on the market except for the ones for older kids to wear at night time.

We haven't given up, but we have decided to spend the money we would have on preschool on other activities where she can interact with other kids. So, I will be searching for classes and such that she can participate in primarily on her own. A lot of the "mommy & Me" classes do not work for us anymore because of the age difference of Celie & Anna. It is difficult to put them both in the same class, etc. etc.

So, this fall will be my challenge to see if we can get her potty trained. Maybe she can start mid year - or we will just wait until next year. We will see. Maybe I will start to train Anna on the potty and then maybe Celie will follow.

Potty training sucks.

She sleeps

In her unpredictability, Anna has been somewhat predictable.

About a month and 1/2 ago, Anna decided that she didn't want to nap in the afternoon. Try as I might, even with a bottle at 1pm - normal nap time. She just wouldn't do it. She would take the bottle, drink it, then open her door and come back down stairs. After several days of this, I decided, fine. No bottle, your done and I will have to deal with Ms. cranky pants.

Well, after a couple of days, I realized that later in the afternoon, Anna would disappear. Since she can freely go up and down the stairs, I would give her a few minutes and then go up and check on her.

For the past month, Anna decides when she is tired. She goes upstairs and crawls into bed. Not always her bed, but a bed. I sometimes find her in hers, or ours, or Celies, but she is asleep and looks so precious. Not the stinker she usually is.

Today was the first time that I thought about it, lighting was good, etc. etc. to capture this moment on film to share.

She sleeps, she stirs, she repositions and goes back to sleep.

Confession: I'm a bad mother

OK. I have a confession to make - My girls have never had a popsicle. It isn't that I haven't tried, they just do not seem to have any interest in anything like that unless it is ice cream.

Well, after lunch, the girls seemed to be a little cranky, but were not going down for a nap for me. So, I thought that I would redeem myself from being the worst mom ever, and teach them about Push Ups.

I took out 1 for each of us and pushed the creamy orange sherbet up so they could get their taste. I put them in a bowl for each of them. They looked at me like I was crazy. Then I told them to watch mommy and showed them how to eat it. They started to the get the hang of it and actually enjoyed it. Anna couldn't quite get the "grip" so a lot of it ended up on her shirt. After them having it melt quite a bit because they couldn't eat it fast enough. I pushed the remaining into the bowl and got spoons for them. They finished off their Push Ups just fine.
i guess I will have to work on their technique.

Yesterday

Was an absolutely gorgeous day here in OH. Even though we have company coming in and I should have been cleaning the house, I couldn't resist taking the girls somewhere fun for a little while to change up things.

I told Bob in the morning that I might take the girls to the "Z." Celie, over hearing this, said, "Mom, can we go to the zoo?" I am going to have to brush up on my french so that I can speak in that language & she won't know what I am talking about. (She already knows more spanish than I do from Dora & Diego!).

So, the zoo it was.

The girls and I got there right as it opened and ventured to the Savannah. We spotted the baby giraffe that had been born 9 days prior. It was wandering the Savannah. It was very cute. Celie wanted to see the Sea lions so we headed that way. At the Sea Lions & Seals, they had someone selling 3 fish for $1. I couldn't resist it. So, I paid the buck and the woman put 3 smelly, little, dead fish in my hand. Oh, that was good for the pregnant lady. Celie touched the fish, but decided that I should feed the sea lions. So, I propped the girls up so they could see and we fed this VERY fat sea lion. I think he had definitely had had his share of fish.

We then moved onto the polar bears. One was pacing the back rock formation while the other was very comfortable on a rock playing in the water.
Next, we were on the way to see if we could find the Touch exhibition where we could touch Rays. We found it and went in. I had to be careful of Anna because she would have wanted to go swimming with them. We had one Ray give us a High Five. Celie thought that was fun.
The Cleveland Zoo is very nice for a small zoo. We really enjoy seeing all of the animals there.

After the Rays, it was time to go home. We had only been at the zoo a little over an hour, but Anna was starting to melt down. She had gotten up early and I knew that a total disaster would happen if we didn't get home. As we were leaving, there were a ton of people coming in and the parking lot was more than 1/2 full. I was glad we were leaving.
I can never get them to BOTH look at me at the same time. I guess I will have to work on that one.

It's a . . .

Well, we went to have our ultrasound this morning. Bob and both girls were in the room with me. Celie was very concerned that I was o.k. She doesn't particularly like Doctors right now, understandably so, but we reassured her that everything was just fine.

The sonographer, I think that is what they are called, was very nice. She started taking measurements of various body parts. Both Bob and I were trying to see if we could see any "parts" but it was difficult from the various positions she was taking images from. She asked if we wanted to know what we were having if she had the opportunity to see. We both said, "Yes!" in unison.

As she was taking some other images, we saw Baby O's heart beating, feet moving around, legs moving around, etc. It was really cool. Then both and I thought we saw something. We didn't tell each other until later, but we both thought at the same time - Ah, there it is, a girl, I think and then the sonographer said, "Well, I think you are going to have to get your paint brushes ready." That seemed like eternity for me to process. Bob admitted later that it did for him as well. Paint Brushes ready meant that we would have to paint over the fairies in the nursery, which meant that it wasn't a girl, which meant it was a BOY!!" Then she said, "Yep, a Boy, for sure," and with that she positioned the ultrasound and YUP, there was no doubt that it was a boy.

So, Jakub Alan Ostroski is doing very well. His measurements are great and everything looks fabulous. YEAH!!

Now, I can sell all of the pink clothes in our upcoming garage sale and figure out what theme to do in his room. I am thinking either Cowboys or sports. Just not sure which though.

Celie & Anna & I made a chocolate cake to celebrate. I had already planned that this afternoon we were going to make a cake to celebrate the boy or girl addition to our family. We are also going to go out to dinner to celebrate when Bob gets home from work.

Honestly, we are happy it is a boy, but we are most blessed that the baby whether it had been a boy or girl is healthy. That is all we have ever wanted. Thank goodness.

4 more days

We are still counting down the days until we get to find out what Baby O is.

4 more days!!!

Bob and I discussed baby names all the way to and from MI. We are definitely settled on the boy name, but the girl name has us perplexed. Still cannot figure out one that is the Ahhhhh, that's it!!!

Thank goodness we are finding out so that if it is a girl, we will have several months to figure it out.

Don't worry, we will post as soon as we can!!!

Celie is A - OK

Bob took Celie to her check up this morning with the Orthopedic Surgeon so that I could stay at home with Anna. Also, if she needed to have x-rays, Bob could go in with her. I cannot because of Baby O.

The Doctor said that she is progressing faster than he expected. He said that she is doing great and healing very well. He said that we can expect her to limp for about another month or so, that that would be normal. But anything more than 2 months and we should contact him.

He said that he doesn't need to see her again for another 3-4 months. At that time, he will see both Celie & Anna, just as a check up measure.

YEAH!!! We are so happy for Celie!! Now comes the fun part of Potty training!!

Shhh, can you hear it?

Silence. The hum of the dryer, the cool breeze filtering through the house, the chirping of birds outside.

All of these things I can hear. . . . . . because for once, both girls are sleeping at the same time.

I took the girls to the "BIG" park. It is the community park at the Community Center in town. We were there for about an hour. And then we met Bob for lunch up by his work. We then came home and within 40 minutes, both girls were sacked out.

Ahhhhhhh, peace and quiet. I almost don't know what to do with myself. Almost.

Just Listening

That is my current favorite thing to do.

Both girls are absolutely hilarious. They have a good time together (with some minor fights) but they also play really well by themselves. I love listening to them talk to themselves with their people. They both have an active imagination. However, I can only really understand Celie as Anna is still speaking in her own language, but we are working on it.

Now, I just need to record them when they are doing it. Some times they stop doing what they are doing when I intrude. So, I just listen.

11 Days & Counting

Until we find out if Baby O is a boy or a girl. We are starting to get very excited. I am also very excited that we will be able to find out so soon what we are having. If it is a boy, then I have some time to go through ALL of the baby clothes that we currently have and put all of the pink stuff in the garage sale we are having in Sept. If it is a girl, then I don't have to worry about anything but a name. There has been a suggestion about the name Wilbur, but I do not think that is very appropriate for a girl. Besides, we already have the boys name picked out.

11 and counting.

Kelly Kind of Day

Bob decided to take the girls to the farm for the night. I didn't go because I had a hair appointment scheduled so I decided that I would make the most of the day.

I went to the Lakewood Art Festival in Lakewood, OH. It was actually pretty good. A VERY mini A2 Art Fair, but some pretty nice stuff. I bought a photograph for our dining room.

Then I went to Pat Catans in Strongsville. It is a super duper craft store. I hadn't every been there and I was impressed with their selection of things and prices. I bought some scrapbook paper (like I needed any) and a few small items to play with making some x-mas presents with the girls.

Then I went to get my hair done. I didn't think that I would be that long, but my hair appointment ended up being about 2 1/2 hours long, but I do like my hair. Hopefully, Bob and the girls will like it too.

Then, baby was craving wings. So, I headed to Fischer's in Peninsula. I usually do not order wings per se, as they are very messy. But I do love a good chicken tender either dipped in buffalo sauce or having it on the side. Baby couldn't make up his/her mind, so we went with a combo platter - chicken wings, eggplant fries (they are yummy!!), and onion rings. Just a little taste of everything.

After I could only eat 1/2 of the combo platter, I finally headed home to begin my chocolate making endeavor. I am making chocolates as a wedding favor for Biff & Sarah that are getting married next week. The dark chocolates came out beautiful, but my white chocolate is misbehaving, so I am having to fuss with it more than I wanted, but hopefully, I will be able to make it work.

Kelly Kind of Day was filled with a little bit of Art, a little bit of Pampering, a little bit of fried food, and a little bit of chocolate. The only thing that would make it a totally Kelly Kind of Day is a little scrapbooking. I still have a few hours left in the day - I think I will do a little. :)