Sibling Rivalry....

For the last year, my kids have been all love for each other. So sweet. Ava has either loved or ignored her brother most of the time. However, since he started walking, it's all changed. There is still lots of love, and even lots of playing (yay! please entertain each other....Mommy needs to catch up on Facebook now). However, Davis loves all of Ava's stuff. And he loves to pull her hair. And yell in her ear. Well, she says it's in her ear. Usually, it's just in her proximity.

My sister is 10 years older than me, so I have never personally experienced childhood sibling rivalry. It's interesting to watch. I'm pretty good at not intervening or taking sides, but there is lots of me reminding Ava that Davis is only one and that he just doesn't understand things like she does. Sigh. It's hard to reason with a dramatic 4-year-old.

It's been a pretty uneventful week here. Busy, but uneventful, if that makes any sense. I have a 5 mile run planned for the morning, so I suppose I should put down the wine, turn off the tv, and get into bed.

Oh! One last thing, though. Since stalking strangers on the web is a hobby of mine, I often read other people's blogs. Running blogs have caught my attention of late, and I started reading Erica's blog over at http://www.ericarunning.com/. She hosted a giveaway for Chobani Champions (yum!) last week, and guess what? I won! Yay me! And thanks, Erica!

On a lighter note....

I was in a pretty bad mood yesterday, and today is much better, so let's change things up a bit. This is not at all related to my kids, but to me, it's share-worthy. The husband and I were watching Jeopardy one night last week, and one of the categories was "Uranus." As in, the planet. Being the mature 30-somethings that we are, we laughed hysterically through the entire category. Frankly, it doesn't get much funnier than Alex Trebek repeatedly asking questions involving Uranus. Like this:



Anyway. I still think it's hysterical. HYSTERICAL. Sorry. Somthing else funny to me? Heidi Montag. Those boobs are ridiculous. I mean, I have NO boobs, and have often contemplated implants. But those? Wow. Not sure how the girl stays balanced. And I won't even get into the rest of her plastic surgery. Yikes.This just cracks me up, thought:

And, while I'm at it, let me just state that I hate people who are famous for no reason. I mean, I think I deserve to be famous, too. I would like all the benefits of celebrity. Why would a reality show about me be any less interesting than one about Heidi and Spencer? Okay, maybe don't answer that.

Some days require more alcohol than others...

This day has really not gotten off to the best start. Let's see. Alarm was set for 5:30am so I could get to my boot camp class. However, when said alarm went off, I was in A's bed, so she also woke up, and I was unable to sneak out. Cue one more hour of sleep for me, at which point I did sneak out for a quick 2 mile run. (And it was so cold this morning! WTF??). Okay, back to the house at 7. Quick shower, no time for shampoo. Standing in the bathroom, blow-drying the sweat out of my hair, A appears at the bathroom door, in tears. Tears because I was drying my (sweaty) hair and was not immediately available to turn off her nightlight & sound machine and open up her blinds and curtains. We may be the teensiest bit OCD. So, off to a bad start today, in many ways.
The day has continued to be a  challenge. I picked up my happy daughter after preschool today, but the mood quickly turned sour and led to yet another meltdown. I mean, I feel like I really need to get to the bottom of whatever is going on with her lately. I feel like it's constant battles, power-struggles, and general difficulties. When I talk about meltdowns, I mean nuclear. Hard-core. Screaming, kicking, sometimes hitting. It's frustrating, enfuriating, humorous, and pitiful, all at the same time. I want so badly to be able to help her through such emotional turmoil, but I often feel manipulated. I know that any anger I show only serves to make things worse, so I work extremely hard to maintain my cool. Very difficult task.I know we'll all get through this, but I just want to get to the source of all this emotion. Aargh.
Our other problem right now is nighttime. As mentioned above, I often find myself in A's bed. She  goes to sleep just fine at night. But nearly every night, she awakens, and says that she had a bad dream. Well, I'm a sucker for a scared little kid, so I always go in and lay down in her bed with her. Of course, this is also the easy option, as it means we all get to go right back to sleep. This would be fine if it were an occassional occurrence. However, every night is absurd. I mean, I am supposed to sleep in my own bed, with my husband, and that's just the way it goes. So, I told A this morning that starting tonight, if she gets scared, I will come in, comfort her, hug her, etc, but I will go back to my room. Uhhh, yeah, That didn't go over so well. So, stay tuned for a report on how that goes. In the meantime, I'm going to go take a large dose of Xanax and try to relax.

Perhaps I SHOULD be this tired....

Wow. I never truly realized how active boys are! When A turned one, we gave her one of those Pottery Barn Kids anywhere chairs. She loved it. She would climb in and chill with a little Baby Einstein so Mommy could make dinner. She sometimes even sat and played with a single toy for a full five minutes. D, on the other hand, has NO interest in TV. I know, I know. There will come a day when I have to tell him, "no, you may not watch another show," but for now, I would love to get him to sit quietly for just a few minutes. That boy is on the go all the time. No wonder he's so exhausted by 6:30 every night!

Since A no longer naps, she will occassionally get a little tired at the end of the day. Here they both are, following A's ballet class a couple of weeks ago:

Normally, I am not so fond of letting my  4-year-old sleep during the day, but sometimes, the peace and quiet that is the result of 2 sleeping children is just too much to resist. As all moms know, the craziest time of day begins around 5pm, so to have just a few moments of zen before that starts is like a little slice of heaven.

Somthing funny to mention before I sign off: My sweet daughter is, shall we say, mildly tantrum-prone? Okay, midly  may be putting it quite lightly. Let's just say that maybe she never fully outgrew her colic. The girl has a temper, and (yeah, I'll admit it), she might be just a wee bit spoiled. Anyway. Tantrums seem to come in waves, and last week was a week o' meltdowns. Funny things come out of her mouth during these moments, though. Some highlights from last week include, "I'm not having a tantrum! I'm MISERABLE!!" Also worthy of mention was (when her daddy was trying to reason with her), "I really just need to have little talk with Mommy. That will make me feel much more better!" I think at one point she also mentioned that she would not live at our house anymore.

I'm learning a lot about patience and my own temper (me??) in all of this. Remaining calm truly is helpful to all. And, we're really having to work on this whole spoiled first child thing. I swear, A should be planning to go to law school. The girl is super-persuasive, and it's hard to say no. We're getting there, though. It's a slow process.

So, between a 1-year-old boy who only stops when he sleeps, and a 4 1/2 year old drama queen, this Mommy is pretty wiped out by the end of most days. Oh, and did I mention that I've taken up running and a boot camp exercise class? Riiigght. Busy & tired. But good. Very good.

A

How is it possible?

Since my last post, my baby boy has turned 1. All last week, I just kept thinking, "this time last year, I couldn't wait for you to get here. This time last year, I was going to the doctor to learn that I would be induced. This time last year, I was bringing you home for the first time." Seriously, it has been the best year, and I wouldn't change a minute of it. I love seeing that bright, smiling face in the morning, and seeing his eyes light up at the sound of his sister laughing. I love the boy-ness of him, his curiosity, the fact that he is constantly on the go. And I love seeing that little personality emerge more and more every day. I always worried that there would be no way I could love a second baby as much as I love my first, but those worries have proven silly, and I have learned that I have more than enough love to go around.

So, Happy Birthday, sweet boy. I love you.

April 2, 2009:

And, one year later....

I go walkin'....

Yes, folks, we have a walker on our hands. Let the good times begin. First steps were on March 6, just three of them, and then about 5 days later, he just took off. Now he's imitating Frakenstein all the time. And quite proud.

The Easter basket made an appearance today because we went to an Easter egg hunt and pancake breakfast at church. Sadly, there are no pictures because SOMEONE (me) forgot to put the SD card back into her camera. Oops. I wish I had pictures so that you could see: 1) the tears that flowed over us making Ava wear a nametag, and 2) the amount of food that Davis packed in. Insane. He eats more than his sister.

After the egg hunt (and the drama over name tag), we came home. Ava was feeling the NCAA (and NIT! Go Heels!) fever and decided to play a little hoops:

And, like all good divas, she played basketball in her dress and gladiator sandals.

Davis got his first boo-boo today.

It made me really sad. Like, more than it should have. Something about seeing a scrape on that perfect baby skin is just tear-worthy. Sigh. I guess it's the first of many. Oh, and that kind of stuff doesn't get easier with baby #2. And maybe it's even harder. I mean, he's my BABY. With big, yummy legs.

The rest of the day, while nice, was also drama-filled. And that's putting it mildly. The sadness over the name tag was only the beginning this morning. There was a LONG meltdown over me saying that she needed to spend the day outside. And when I say long, I mean 30-plus minutes. Then there were several more meltdowns. It got to be crazy. I mean, I opened a Blue Moon at 5pm. I was motivated by both the weather and the bad behavior. Also, please note that  we were throwing a ball around and Ava knocked over the aforementioned beer. So then I was forced to open another. Forced, I tell you.And it was good.

So, all in all, a good Saturday. Hoping for a little calmer Sunday. I have quite a few little house projects I need to work on, and disciplining my oldest child really isn't on the day's agenda.

Boys v. Girls

I am lucky enough to have one of each kid. One girl, one boy. At age 4 1/2 (don't tell her she's 4...that "and-a-half" is really important to her), I can see that she's a girlie girl. I mean, she often wears lots of jewelry. As in, 20 or 30 pieces AT A TIME.

She is often in a princess costume (Snow White, mostly), and is obsessed with shoes, clothes, bows, etc. And she hates to get dirty. Funny enough, though, her very best friend is a boy. They have already announced their engagement, but that's a story for another day.

Now, Davis, is all boy. ALL boy. Nothing dainty about him at all. He is obsessed with getting his hands dirty and putting them in all the places he shouldn't. Toilets are his personal fave. Just this morning, he put some furniture from Ava's doll house into the toilet. While I was sitting on it. Somehow I didn't notice, so I had the pleasure of sticking my hand into my own urine in order to retrieve a yellow plastic table. These are the sorts of things that increase my desire for cocktails at noon.

It's really fun having these two incredibly different beings, though. When Ava was a baby,we didn't really have to babyproof our house at all. Davis can get into things I didn't think he'd even notice, though. AnEd he's a climber. He has no regard for his own saftey whatsoever. He'll dive right over our legs and laugh the whole time, completely unaware that he's inches from breaking his neck. This does make me a little nervous for the truly wild years.

Both kids are pretty fabulous, and one of each makes our house feel so balanced. I love it, even though between the two of them, I am totally exhausted. Ava mentally exhausts me, and Davis physically. It's all good, though.