Friday, July 27, 2012

Sisters

I don't know if all parents feel this way.  I don't know if its because it took so long for my sister and I to have a good relationship (Love ya Ness!).  But, when I watch T and K interact with each other, my heart gets overwhelmed with joy and love.  There appears to be something special between those two girls and as a mom, I pray that connection lasts a lifetime.  K loves to stare at T, full of fascination and adoration.  I read an article recently discussing the guilt some parents have that child #2 doesn't get the same level of attention the first did.  The article pointed out, that not only does the second child get your attention, but they also get the attention of their older sibling.  Below are some pictures from the last two months.  From the pictures below, its obvious how much these girls love each other!


 I love these two pictures of the girls in matching dresses.  Not because they match, but because you can see how they interact with each other. 

 T loves to get down on K's level.  Maybe its due partly to T suddenly wanting all her baby toys again, but she loves to entertain K.  Often, I'll hear T squeal, "She's smiling at me!".  Truthfully, T is the only one to make K laugh so far, and trust me, I've been trying!
 Although I'm a hot mess in this one, I love that it shows one of our relaxing weekend mornings, me and the girls still in PJs, enjoying time together.
T has been asking to hold K a lot more recently.  Now that K's head control is better, its much easier to orchestrate!  I love seeing the joy in T's eyes in the picture below.
The best day, however, was when T said to K (unprompted), "I lub [love] you".  It was all I could do not to cry!

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Ice Cream Lasagne

Nothing says summer like ice cream.  Um, who am I kidding, I eat ice cream every day of the year!  However, there is one ice cream treat that I only make during the summer and that's ice cream lasagne!  Just look at those delicate chocolate cake layers, the smooth ice cream, the decadent fudge and caramel, all topped with crunchy peanuts...  Mmmmm, yum!

 Looks good, right?  And like a lot of work, huh?  Well, my friend, prepare to wow your guests with ease.  I tend to give away my secret, but feel free to bask in the culinary glory that this presents itself as and keep your secret to yourself!

Here are your ingredients: Ice cream sandwiches, cool whip, salted peanuts, caramel and fudge syrup.  I find its easiest to use a disposable aluminum pan.  Regardless, estimate how many sandwiches you'll need to make two complete layers.  I needed 12 sandwiches, so one boxe.
 This is the hardest part, unwrapping each ice cream sandwich before it melts!  Place them down so they make one even layer at the bottom.
 Spread half the tub of cool whip on top of the sandwiches.
 Looks pretty huh?
 Now, go crazy with some fudge syrup, and...
 with some caramel syrup.
 Sprinkle peanuts on top.  I find the salted cocktail peanuts are best.  Made the mistake of using unsalted peanuts once, and only once.
 Repeat!
Freeze for at least two hours before serving.  And voila!  Look at that thing of beauty!  Now, do try to serve these in smallish pieces.  You'll think you can eat a lot more than you can!
Enjoy your ice cream lasagne and the many, many accolades! And, do yourself a favor, make two, one to bring/serve, and one to keep for yourself.

Many thanks for B's Aunt Cathy who taught me this recipe many years ago.  It has served me well!

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

How to Keep a Toddler Busy

Oy.  Toddlers.  Short attention spans and high demands makes an afternoon with a toddler exhausting.  One of my current favorite bloggers, author of Crappy Pictures, recently posted about what literally happens every single day in my house.  T wants yoyo (yogurt), so we give her a yogurt.  Three bites in, "I want waffles".  I was just about to sit down and enjoy some, but now they get cut up into bite sized pieces and are hers.  Four or five bites in, "I want rice."  "No you don't want rice."  "Momma, I want RICE!" Ugh, "OK, here's some rice." I put away the yogurt and eye the waffles, wondering if she'll notice some bites missing.  "Momma, I want yoyo."  An hour later, "I want waffles."

Her activity level is much like her appetite, changing from one activity to another just as quickly.  I try to come up with all sorts of elaborate schemes and projects such as home made salt dough, making cards to mail to family, decorating flower pots with foam stickers.  These activities last as long as it takes for me to turn my back and she's getting into something else.  My husband on the other hand?  This is how he keeps T busy.

One large plastic cup
One small plastic cup
One vase half full of marbles

Set these items in front of toddler and supervise as she transfers them back and forth, back and forth - FOR OVER AN HOUR!!!!

Don't believe me?  Here's the proof:



That was half an hour in already.  Half an hour later, she was still going strong. (I changer her clothes and did her hair while she sorted.  Girl wouldn't even take a break!)

Monday, July 9, 2012

My BFF

I think best friends means something different when you are an adult.  When you're a kid, your BFF is someone you spend all of your waking hours with, the person you get into trouble with, the one that you can't wait to see the next day as you fall asleep.  As we get older, our lives take us to different places, different careers.  Our spouses and kids become our priority.  Our work schedules prevent us from playing together all day long.  But you know you have a BFF when days, weeks, even months go by, yet when you get together, its like time has stood still.  You pick up exactly where you left off.  There's no awkwardness, no small talk, no weirdness.  It's just that person that knows you as well as you know yourself.  That person who has always been there for you, through all of life's ups and downs, without hesitation.

My BFF, J, is coming to town today and I am so excited!  I haven't seen her since December and its been way too long!  She was my maid of honor in our wedding and was there for me when we lost our first pregnancy.  She's has my back since sixth grade when we would make up stories about our cats being BFF's and would walk to and from school together, me carrying both our school bags.  After this past week, I could use a little joy, and that is traveling to us from SC right this very second!  We'll enjoy some pizza and laughs before they continue their trip home to MA with her husband and three beautiful children.  I'm so excited that they will be here, to see my house for the first time, to meet K for the first time, and to see how much T has grown.  I love that I get to share our lives with them, even if for just an hour, because no matter how much time has gone by, she will always be my BFF.

 At my wedding
At her wedding
 Her beautiful family (I made the girls' dresses!)
 With a couple of our littles and our friend R.
 Most of our M'boro gang
Classic old school pic from High School.  Love her vest.  Love my hat even more. SMH

Sunday, July 8, 2012

Colonel Mustard

Everyone has at least one or two movies from childhood that they remember watching over and over again.  For my husband, it was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  I had three, Little Shop of Horrors, Beetlejuice, and Clue. At any given moment I can recite any scene or sing a song from these movies.  One scene from Clue, in particular, describes how I'm feeling as we finish up this week.  Towards the end of the movie, people have been murdered with ropes, lead pipes, etc., the power has been cut a couple of times and Colonel Mustard (in the hallway) states "I just can't take any more scares!", followed by the chandelier crashing behind him.  Luckily for us, no lead pipes have presented themselves this week, but I've had enough and I need a break.

We started off the week with both girls home with me.  T's daycare was without power due to some crazy thunderstorms on Friday.  We were getting through the day just fine.  I was actually feeling pretty good about how it was going (my mistake).  K woke up around 2:30, I fed her and at 3:30, we went to get T up from her nap (girl will still sleep 3 hours +!).  I put K down in her crib to get T our of hers.  When T and I went back to K, we watched her wiggle for a couple of minutes and then she stopped breathing.

She was purple.

She was rigid.

I picked her up, and she didn't respond.

For some reason I carried her out to the landing on the stairs, all the while clapping her back and telling her to breath.  She finally responded.  All told, it was about 20-30 seconds, but it felt like an eternity.  We spent the rest of the evening at the emergency room for observation.  Nothing could be detected that was out of the ordinary with her.  She even smile at the nurse taking her, um, temperature.  They called it an "Apparent Life Threatening Event", without direct cause.  What I've been reassured is that she likely won't have another one and she likely would have gotten herself breathing without me.  When it comes to my baby breathing, "likely" isn't very reassuring, but she's been fine ever since.

We celebrated the 4th with some friends at their house, in their beautiful salt water pool (I will own one someday).  Yesterday, we sought refuge at another friends' house in their pool.  T is slowly warming up to the water and yesterday we had her splashing, kicking and scooping water.  I see swim lesson in her future, soon.  As we were drying off to go home, T was walking along the pool deck.  The water we dripped made it slippery and down she went. 

Hard. 

Our friend Colleen caught her right before she hit her head (THANK YOU!!!!!), but when we picked her up, she didn't start crying right away, her eyes rolled back and she shook.  We ran toward the house and called 911.  A minute later, when the paramedics arrived, T had calmed down, was sitting on my lap very quietly.  Her eyes were focused and she was able to answer some questions.  We, of course, watched her every movement and decided she was okay and that she was spared any serious head injury.  Today, she's completely back to normal, silly, stubborn, and stalling at bedtime.  She's singing her ABC's, reciting "Little Miss Muffet", and climbing everywhere (great).

So, from now on, I'll be answering to the name of Colonel Mustard.  Everytime I close my eyes, I see K's purple face or T's eyes rolling back.  Please take it easy girls, Mummy just can't take any more scares.

 My LOVES!