Hot Feet

Last week Sophie found a bottle of red nail polish and sat on the floor, hitting the bottle against her toes. Of course she wanted her toenails painted red. Mama's are red.

I carefully painted one set of tiny toenails and blew on them for a couple of minutes until I was sure they were dry. She helped. Then we did the same for the other foot.

A few minutes later I was in the kitchen and she walks in on her heels, staring at her toes.

"Look at your pretty toes!" I say to her.

She looks at me and says, "Hot."

Yes, I guess they were. Good thing we blew on them to cool them off.

Breaking Potty News

Yep, this is the one. It plays fanfare music when it gets . . . deposits. :)

I would like to announce that Sophie, for the first time in her little 23 month life, peed in her little pink potty this morning. All by herself. Literally. I didn't even know she'd done it until I went over and looked.

We got her a potty a couple of months ago because she acted interested, but mostly used it as a toy. We would ask her if she wanted to sit on it and she would always give us a resounding, "NO!" I've learned that Sophie (like most toddlers, I'm sure) does things at her own pace, when she decides to do them, and hates to be forced into anything. During the past few weeks, she's been into taking her pants and her diaper off and sitting on her potty. (Without much prompting from us.) Until this morning she hadn't left any presents.

Congrats little one! We're so proud of you!

Hopefully this will be start of a very short, very clean process. *crossing fingers*

Clumbsy Me

Only I would sprain the heck out of my ankle two days before my husband leaves for a weekend seminar. In Seattle.

Only I would sprain said ankle doing something totally uncool. (Slipped off the concrete steps taking the garbage out. Lame.) The last sprained ankle I had was on my mission. I'm pretty sure seven years without a sprain is a record for me.

Luckily I have so many great friends who dropped by to keep Sophie entertained or bring us dinner. Or to put peroxide on my scratches, bandage my ankle, bring me a brace, and check on me five times. (Thanks Natasha!)

After Steve left, his mom, Judi, came to rescue me. Otherwise I would have cried all weekend from being overwhelmed. She was my angel this weekend.

I'm back on my unsteady feet (mostly), both girls are fast asleep, and Judi's on her way back to Sac. I think I can handle the next 20 hours until Steve gets home.

Cups

Ivy discovered drinking from a cup. It only took one little splash of water on her lips before she started grabbing at the glass. Now she does it every time she sees me drinking from one. I don't mind sharing with her, just as long as she doesn't barf in it.

Dating

Steve + Nat + Sophie + Ivy + going out to dinner = NOT a date
Steve + Nat + Ivy + going out to dinner = Closer to a date
Steve + Nat + a 15-minute trip to Target for diapers = Date

Sad, but true. We didn't pack diapers on our last overnighter in Sacramento, so we had to run to the store before bedtime. We left the girls at Steve's parents house and, for the first time since Ivy was born, we were entirely alone and out of the house. Walking through Target without having to throw snacks at Sophie, having to constantly keep moving to pacify Ivy, and walking around without pushing a wheeled vehicle full of children made me giddy. Steve and I just held hands and took our sweet time.

The next night we went out to dinner with Ivy and Matt Altop (Steve's best bud). I almost counted that as a date, too, but Steve and Matt did all the talking. Ivy slept the entire time, so I got really acquainted with the menu. We went to Tex Wasabi's - owned by Guy Fieri. (Which is why I was a nerd and insisted we get a picture out front.) It's a cool little place. Part BBQ - part sushi bar. And probably the only place you'll find sushi rolls that have BBQ brisket and french fries. (Yes, I orderd that off the "gringo" sushi menu. We were still on our gluten-free diet, so it was slim pickens. It was delicious, by the way.)

Maximum Entertainment with Minimum Effort

Here's what happens when it's Dad's job to entertain Ivy on an afternoon following a vigorous game of church basketball.

View from outside with the window shut.

Window open!

Easter Sunday

So, I think we were pretty boring parents this year. We didn't dye eggs, we didn't do Easter baskets, or do an Easter egg hunt. The girls didn't know the different, so I'm taking advantage of that for as long as I can. We took off during church on Easter Sunday to spend the afternoon with Steve's family in Sacramento. Steve's mom had a basket waiting for Sophie (filled with chocolate for mom and dad. Sweet.), and we had a fun little egg hunt after dinner. (Also mostly for the adult "children". The eggs had cash in them. Also sweet. Thanks!)

Our crew with Steve's parents. Yes, I know Ivy's missing a shoe. It didn't even make it out of the house. (Thanks, hon.)

Easter dress credit (as well as other unexpected Easter surprises in the mail :)) goes to my wonderful mom. Thanks!!

April Showers

Sophie and I went for a little walk last week after it had drizzled. She'd never used the umbrella grandma had given her -- probably because mom (mom's hair) hates going outside when it's raining.

Aw, look at how she loves her mom! (Actually an airplane flew by. Mom's not nearly that cool.)

A little nose-picking stop.

My Favorite Time of Day

The last couple of days have been rough - especially on the kitchen floor. The poor thing has been scribbled on with black crayon not once, but twice and last night had the honor of being christened by Sophie, who is in the very early stages of potty training. Luckily it was number one. And it didn't get on the carpet.

Sophie's getting her two-year molars, too, so she's extra pleasant to be around. Ivy seems to be showing some sympathy crankiness because I swear I hold her all of her waking moments.

I love naptimes.

I have a lot more photos that I may nor may not post about. Just click on the slide show if you want to see them close up. Easter updates are probably coming - hopefully before Mother's Day - if I don't have to keep mopping the floor.

Eye-vy

Sometimes we call her "Big Eyes" or just "Eyes". They're awfully hard to miss when they take up 1/3 of her face.

I haven't posted anything about my smiley, slobbery, 4-month-old Ivy latey. It's hard to get good shots of her because 1) she's always wiggly and 2) like her sister, she becomes intent on staring a hole through the camera whenever it makes itself seen. I had to resort to using the mirror to get her to smile. This one never fails. If she's throwing a fit -- it will calm her every time.

I absolutely love her mouth-wide-open smile. She's such an expressive little one, and her whole face lights up when she's happy. The poor thing still doesn't have much hair on her head, but her eyelashes are coming in fast, long, and thick. They'll probably be just like Sophie's.

Ivy sucks on her hands all the time and now she's pretty good at grabbing things (much to the distress of my earlobe the other day). She rolls from side to side, but hasn't been consistently rolling back to front since she first did it over a month ago. Sleeping is . . . improving. I think. Her nap schedule is beginning to be more regular, and she goes to sleep easily, but still wakes up 2, 3, 4 times a night. I just wish I was as coherent in the middle of the night as I was with Sophie. Sometimes I wake up with her in my lap, still halfway attached with milk dripping from her chin, and I don't remember when I fed her last, which side it was, how long I was asleep sitting up, and can barely read the clock because I'm blind at night. I think I need a nap, too.

Getting Out of the House

First I want to show you something. In light of our economy right now and how our government is sinking us further and further into debt, I want you all to click HERE. It's a little graphic that puts a trillion dollars into perspective. Times that by 10.7 and that's what our national debt looks like. Pretty crazy.

With the warm weather last week and 79 degree weather yesterday. We made lots of trips to the park. Before I had Ivy I figured I'd be staying at home a lot because I wouldn't want to juggle both kids in public, but it's the complete opposite. I love shopping trips (because Sophie still stays in the cart) and mornings at the park! It breaks up our day, gives us lots of fresh air (and vitamin D per Steve's request) and wears Sophie out so she naps 3-4 hours when we get back. Then all of us are relatively happy when Steve gets home from school.

Anyway, we went to the park by the marina which is only a few minutes from home. They have a mile-long loop you can walk around, so I pushed the kiddos along the path at a pretty good speed and actually broke a sweat. Go me.

Sophie's finally warmed up to play structures. I'm so glad. She used to stick to me like glue, dig around for snacks in my bag and throw bark around. She still throws bark around (yes, she's THAT kid), but at least she ventures up to go down the slide a few times.

When there's no one else around to throw it at, she throws it on herself. Her mother must be so proud.

She loves the swings.

A lot more than she used to.

Ivy? Oh yeah, I have two now. Sometimes I forget because she sleeps most of the time we go out. Add that to my list of "why I love going out of the house." More on her in a bit.

I Can't Think of a Tactful Title

So . . . we're at the park this afternoon and Sophie wanders over to a women on the grass who's playing with a puppy. I follow her over and make small talk with the lady as Sophie warily eyes the dog.

Suddenly Sophie points at the lady and says, "Mock." (milk)

"Milk?" I say, a little confused.

The lady motions to the picnic basket behind her and says, "Oh, I'm sorry, sweetie. I don't have any milk."

Meanwhile I'm trying to figure out why she would say that because the container in her picnic basket doesn't look anything like a milk carton. Then I look back at the woman and notice that she's very well endowed.

And showing a lot of cleavage.