Consider Yourself Carded

This is the Christmas card I whipped up and was going to have printed and mailed out. Then it was the attachment I was going to email to everyone with a "Perry Newsletter". Now it's posted on my blog four days after Christmas. Such is my life right now.

Our Christmas updates are coming soon, but I can't promise you when.

I Need More Arms

I was telling Steve the other night that I wished I had another set of arms. And that I wished they were "Go-Go Gadget" arms that would stretch really far. I could think of a hundred uses for them right now.

Like when you're home alone trying to get a picture of yourself with a ragdoll newborn and a squirmy toddler. This is the best I could get:

Oh, and remember how I commented about Ivy spitting up a LOT? I'm pretty sure chocolate is the culprit. It's a sad day at the Perry house. (But maybe this will make it easier to lose 40 lbs. Yes, 40. I'm shooting for my "deployment" weight. You'll be the first to know if I get there.)

Passing Down Memories

I know I'm a little heavy on the videos, but Sophie has had some great material lately. (Trying to draw the attention that she lost to Ivy back to herself again?) These two clips might be a little more meaningful to my side of the family because of old memories.

When we were little, my mom made most of the bread we ate in the bread machine. If you've ever used one, you'll recognize the rhythmic sound the dough paddle makes when you first turn it on. My mom would move her hips to the beat of the bread machine, trying to get us to do it with her, and thus the "Bread Dance" was born. Because I do about a loaf of bread each week, Sophie has started to recognize it when she hears it. Of course, I taught her the bread dance, but I'm not sure where she got her little robot moves from.

Popcorn is also connected to a lot of childhood memories. Making popcorn with my grandpa (my dad's dad), is one of the few memories I have of him since he passed away when I was 12. My dad loves popcorn, too, so we popped some almost every Sunday night that I can remember. Back in the day we used an air popper, but my dad has since moved on to microwave. Over the last few months I've been wanting to get an air popper because seriously, no microwave popcorn I've tried has come close to air-popped-drizzled-with-real-butter popcorn. (Air poppers are kind of hard to find if it's not Christmastime. Interesting.) My mom brought me one when they were here last month and Sophie, who's always liked popcorn, has taken a special interest in it now. She asks for it everyday.

And by the way. . . Yes, I do dress Sophie. These two clips just happen to be taken in the morning.

Here's a pic of Ivy. I'm trying to give her equal blog time, but seriously. . . this is what she does all day:

She's already changing and getting bigger. *sniff*

Video Debut, Dance Moves, and Serious Denial

Since I kind of made fun of Ivy in my last post, I thought I'd make it up to her by posting a little clip. (Not to mention appeasing long-distant family members who may or may not have seen her yet.) To me, she really is entertaining. I could stare at her little face all day. When I look at her, it reminds me of when Sophie was a newborn, and I realize that I forgot how little she was, how tiny her fingers were and all the funny noises and faces she made. It makes me sad because I know I'll forget those things about Ivy, too. Sure, pictures and video are wonderful, but they'll never be that small in your arms again. I better stop before I need to grab a tissue.

And now the latest from Sophie...

In addition to Sophie's wicked dance moves, you'll notice a giant, crocheted sock monkey which was made by and sent to her by my wonderfully talented cousin, Sarah. Sarah got married in Idaho last Saturday, and I was really, really, REALLY disappointed I couldn't be there. I heard everything was beautiful, though. Congrats you guys :)

I think this one is pretty self-explanatory. Sophie obviously needs a nap and is heading into her "two's".

Entertainment

This week was better. Steve had finals so he was home earlier than usual on some days. On one of those days (I don't remember which day. They all run together now.) I jetted out the door within minutes after he walked in so I could finish up some Christmas shopping with ONE child. Of course I took the easy one with me. How I feel while shopping with a newborn now is like how I felt while shopping alone when Sophie was a newborn. Does that make sense? Ivy just sleeps! I didn't have to entertain her, throw goldfish at her or worry that she'd try to climb out of the cart or throw a fit. I forgot how easy newborns are. Well, mine anyway. I lucked out with these two. Although Ivy seems to spit up a LOT. The only time she doesn't smell like barf is about 5 minutes after her bath. Gross, I know. My gratitude for having a washer and dryer is constantly renewed.

I've also come to understand why the second child doesn't get nearly the photos and video as the first -- besides the obvious reason of having a toddler to take care of and not having the luxury of staring at Ivy all day and taking pictures of her. We don't love her any less, and although I love the squinty-eyed newborn phase, she just isn't as entertaining as Sophie is.

Here's a good example:

Ivy's trick: Smiling (but not really because it's just a twitch, still)
Sophie's trick: Handing me Christmas ornaments to hang on her ears

Or this example:

Ivy's trick: Barfing on me twice now since I've been typing this post.
Sophie's trick: Climbing in the bouncer seat with a book and turning on the vibrator. Very cozy.

See? I don't even have pictures of Ivy's tricks. Barfing wouldn't be so lovely, especially since it comes out of her nose sometimes. Poor thing.

Goals

The girls and I made it through our first week by ourselves at home. Barely. Besides the obvious goals of making sure the kiddos were fed and somewhat clean, my only goal for Monday was to take a shower. Once I'd reached my goal I settled in, not wanting to overexert myself, and watched several hours of Food Network while keeping Sophie's tornado-like destruction to one room. I learned from Steve's deployment that watching a lot of TV does nothing for my morale. That lesson also applies to the hormonal, postpartum version of me. I'm a lot more emotional this time around. Add that to not getting enough sleep and Sophie's jealous tantrums and whining and you get a very irritable mom.

So, for Tuesday, I decided that I needed something more productive as my goal because watching that much TV makes me more emotional and cranky. Even when I'm watching food. My goal for Tuesday was to put up Christmas decorations. Still some rough spots, but overall better than Monday.

Somehow photos never do Christmas trees justice. OK, my camera doesn't do it justice.


Some of my favorite ornaments.

Each day got a little better after that. I managed to get a shower every day and got a few things done around the house. A few ladies from the ward brought meals last week, which was a total lifesaver. Thank you!! Around 4-5ish was when Sophie and I were our crankiest and it would have been almost impossible to spend more than 10 minutes in the kitchen making dinner.

Friday I decided that we needed a quick trip somewhere because we were going nutso from being inside all week. After tackling Target and a quickie in the grocery store, I decided that I need to rethink how I do my grocery shopping. I put Ivy's carrier in the front, Sophie and my diaper bag in the cart, and had enough room for one gallon of milk and a can of baking powder, which Sophie tried to open for several minutes. I put the produce in the front because I didn't trust her alone with a bunch of bananas. I'm not sure how I would have managed had this been a "real" grocery store trip. At Target I took Ivy out of her carrier, wrapped her in a fleece blanket and put her in my Bjorn carrier while Sophie sat in the front of the cart. That worked OK except Ivy is still ragdoll-like and kept sliding down the carrier all bunched up. Plus the fleece blanket was making me sweat. Taking her out of the carrier and wrapping her in a blanket is a pain, too, in the parking lot, and what happens when it drops below 60 degrees? And the option of having Sophie walk beside the cart is definitely out. Unfortunately, she's a runner, and I really don't want to resort to putting a leash on her. She would probably throw a fit if I tried. Ugh. I have some thinking to do.

Ivy, on the other hand, is an angel baby -- kind of like Sophie was before she decided she could have an opinion about things. Luckily Sophie's jealousy is directed more at me than at Ivy. She adores Ivy. The first word out of her mouth when she wakes up for the day, or even from a nap, is "AHH-vee!" She's always right next to me when I change Ivy's diaper or bathe her, but when I nurse her, Sophie decides that she wants to jump in my lap and read a book RIGHT THEN. I spend as much time as I can with Sophie, which helps, and I think she's realizing that Ivy's a permanent fixture in our home now.