Dancer, Writer, Socialite

A few highlights from Annie's jet-set lifestyle this week:

1. She is the proud new owner of a pair of black patent-leather tap shoes. She wants to wear them everywhere she goes and is slowly getting used to the idea that they are just for dance. If you come to our house, she will try them on for you. Pictures forthcoming. We had the best time yesterday shopping for new dance gear. While we were in the store, she kept looking at me every two minutes with a sheepish grin and huge eyes, like, "Do I really get to get stuff here?!?" She was trying to act so grown-up and nonchalant when the saleswoman tried the shoes on her, but she couldn't resist doing a little tapity-tap-tap on the parquet floor in front of a big mirror before she put her crocs back on. It will be interesting to see if she loves dance, as I predict, or is over it before the 12-week session is up. In any case, the pictures will be priceless.

2. After 3 years of thinking of "football game" as something one watches on TV while Daddy gets mad at the Michigan players/coach, Annie now loves a football game. This is because she has attended her first EGR game, and, boy, was it good. After a fun little tailgate party in our front yard (where she got to hold Riley's new hamster, eat watermelon, draw Dora with sidewalk chalk, and run screaming up and down the driveway with neighbor girls), Jason took her to the first half of the game. While there, she managed to become the grubbiest, tiredest Annie I've ever seen. He brought her back to me, covered in stickiness from the ring pops she and Lucy got, barely able to stand straight. As I threw her in the shower, I asked, "What was it like at the football game?" She mumbled, "People were banging into each other and knocking each other over," which I suppose is technically right. There was hell to pay this afternoon from the late bedtime, but I think she'll remember that fun night for a long time.

3. While she was playing with her refrigerator magnets yesterday, I heard her talking about spelling her name. Next thing I know, she's dragging me into the kitchen to "show me somethin'" Sure enough, she put together "ANE" and had to tell me. So proud.

4. We went to the park this afternoon. We were there for about 3 minutes before Annie came running over, yelling, "I made a new friend!" Then she and other-3-year-old-girl played on the swings, the slide and with the tether-ball until other-girl got hit in the face. I love this about Annie and I really hope she keeps her friendliness and compassionate spirit as she gets older.

5. I was standing out in the driveway tonight, talking to various neighbors, and Annie came running over in her jammies two times, simply to say, "I love you, Mommy" and hug my leg. Not sure if this was for the benefit of the neighbors or just a sudden burst of deep love, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. After a very, very trying afternoon (remember the late night last night? and no nap today?), it was a small consolation and reminder that it's all worth it.

Jemma . . . still sick, still sad. I spent much of last night holding her in the rocking chair, feeling sorry for her while simultaneously remembering why having a newborn sleep schedule sucks so much. Perhaps I should put myself to bed, now, at 7:38, in order to snatch a total of 5 or 6 hours before tomorrow's activities.

Paperwork

And more preschool paperwork: an entire sheet full of questions about allergies, cultural traditions, separation anxiety, etc. I'm marching through it, trying to be honest, brief, and casually humorous (let's admit the juice and candy fixation so the teachers aren't shocked when she's licking tiny shreds of sugar from other children's faces . . .) and then I get to, "What does your child enjoy doing on a daily basis?" Seriously?

I wrote: all art projects (especially involving glitter glue or Play-Doh), riding bikes and running and just being outside, "cooking," dancing, playing dress-up, building towers, and being social with neighbors and friends . . . or something along those lines. All of which is technically true.

But really? Try: tormenting her sister by snatching away anything that she might remotely be crawling towards, picking her nose, sucking on a teething ball that she calls her "paci," foraging around Jemma's highchair for any stray puffs, begging to "go somewhere" a minimum of 42 times before lunch, taking off all her clothes below the waist in order to potty and taking 20 minutes to put them on again backwards, getting things out and distributing them around the house, asking for a treat, and claiming she has to go poop after she's been tucked into bed at night (sometimes for as long as 40 minutes!).

I guess I will keep the real list a secret until I see how much of a sense of humor the teachers have. I suspect they'll see Annie's true personality (the good and the less-than-perfect) after a few weeks with her. Can't wait to see what they think. (Can't wait to see what she does! I think.)

Poor Jemma has a little cold and a fever. She was happy enough today, anyway, until just before dinnertime. The main outcome of this will be that she'll wake up 37 times during the night and cry because she can't suck her fingers while her nose is plugged with snot. I'm planning on "sleeping" in the rocking chair and dosing her with Tylenol every 4 hours. Poor little thing.

More Picnics

Another day, another picnic at a park with the girls. I am going to get myself in trouble by ratcheting up the fun-expectation-meter yet another notch for Annie, and now any day lacking a picnic, visit to a park/playground, time to play with at least one friend, sprinkler-running, and popsicles outside will seem so, so dull. But it's hit me - really hit me - that this is our last week of summer! I was filling out the preschool paperwork today (feeling very, very old) and realized that NEXT WEEK WEDNESDAY is her first meet-the-teacher day! So we had to see Ben and Sam today for a picnic lunch, then go to frolic in the giant water fountain at Gaslight Village (I miraculously resisted the siren call of Jersey Junction!), then run through sprinklers with Lucy. Fun for Annie, fun for me. (Fun for Jemma, too, in a different way: so many opportunities to crawl on the ground and try to eat grass.)

It's hit me, too, as I ponder our fall "schedule," which isn't really that busy of a schedule at all, that those early, blurry days of mommyhood were a little magical when all of us sleep-deprived mothers could just tote the babies to someone's house, drink coffee, and be tired together. There were no worries about getting everyone dressed and out the door by a certain time, naps happened in Pack and Plays in various spare bedrooms, and we just generally saw a lot more of one another than I suspect we're going to in the next 10-15 years. Even though I think Annie's so, so ready for some more structure and activity, I'm going to miss the spontaneous flexibility (aka, chaos) of the earlier days a little bit.

What am I saying? There is potential, two times a week, for Jemma to take her standard one-hour morning nap while Annie is at school. That's two whole hours a week to do whatever I want, in my house, without having to pay or beg anyone to take my kids away! Maybe, finally, the house will get clean. Or maybe, finally, I'll get to read more than one book every two weeks! The possibilities . . .

On an unrelated note, while the girls and I were frolicking in the fountain today, we got to listen to the lovely piped-in music that plays throughout Gaslight Village. The first song I noticed was "Night Moves" by Bob Seger, a song that Jason sang so many times about 6 weeks ago that I had to ban it from the house. Next, they played Jason's new obsession, "Hold On to the Night" by Richard Marx. This is a song he has recently learned on the keyboard - not for playing at gigs, but for the sole purpose of "warming up his voice" and for the pure enjoyment of that particular piece of music. (No, he isn't gay.) Annie and I both hate it. But I had to call him and leave him a message on his cell phone. It was like a little sign that he was there with us, and I have to admit, the damn Richard Marx song made me smile a little.

Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk

Everyone has their vices. (The above is the title of a Rufus Wainwright song that I am obsessed with . . . kinda relates, plus it's a great song, so check it out.) I am apparently unable to end my day without making a trip to Jersey Junction, as I have just returned, vanilla malt in hand, from my "trip to Rite Aid." Must stop eating ice cream every single day. Also, must stop drinking wine with neighbors until midnight. It is fun, but it gets my week off to the wrong start, one where my caffeine/alcohol/water balance is all out of whack and I try, though it is futile, to nap when the girls are taking their naps. (Reminder to self: this never works. Someone always wakes up early (Jemma) or never goes to sleep (Annie), and you are always more frustrated because you tried to sleep . . .)

I got my first glimpse today of the naughtiness that will ensue when Jemma turns on me during her toddler years. We were playing with blocks upstairs, and she kept leaving our little area and racing towards the stairs. I'd let her get just so far, and then I'd crawl over to her, pick her up, and set her down, facing the other direction. She'd giggle and immediately turn around to head towards the stairs again! Then Annie got in the mix, tickling Jemma's tummy, kissing her cheeks, and generally making both of them hysterical. It was adorable.

Other than a little down-time upstairs, we basically lived outside today. We hung out in the front yard this morning before heading to the park to play with a few friends and have a picnic. After naps, we took a walk, drew with sidewalk chalk, and played with neighbors on Caden's slide until dinnertime. Even after dinner, Jason and I played catch with a mini-football and kicked the soccer ball around with Annie after Jemma was in bed. The marching band was practicing on the field, people were out walking dogs, and it was a beautiful night to be outside.

Target Wisdom

So, I went to Target today, a Sunday, all by myself. And I made some observations. First, stores are a lot busier on the weekends than they are at 10:30 a.m. on a Tuesday. I am not used to shopping with the general public, and it's very distracting having all those people right next to me. Also, instead of being filled with disheveled moms and toddlers in shopping carts, Target on the weekend is populated by middle-aged parents and their teenage kids (will we NEVER go to Target alone?), who seem to be just as high-maintenance as the toddlers are. There they are, wanting things, NEEDING things, and actually putting things in carts and arguing about why they should have them. Suddenly, the fact that I can meet a friend there, push my kid-filled cart next to hers, and bribe Annie and Jemma with Cheerios looks better and better. I realized that this parenting thing isn't going to get easier, exactly; it's just going to change constantly. (Those of you who know me well will know that one of my mantras used to be, "I hate change." I'm working on that, but still, it's not my favorite . . .) With this in mind, I'm having a better attitude about my crises of the moment and doing a better job of knowing that this, too, shall pass.

Other fun things I did today: went running by myself this morning (you can see I'm being paid back for Jason's mountain biking yesterday), went to the cutest little food store in Ada with the family and to Ada Park afterwards, ate some yummy Zingerman's cherry pie, got groceries, cooked dinner (Connie's easy-but-fantastic Girls' Weekend chicken recipe), and took the girls to Jersey Junction.

I'm feeling good about starting the week well-rested, happy, and with a house that's semi-under control. Time to head down the street to blow all those early-to-bed intentions by drinking wine with some favorite neighbor girls!

A Little Tantrum of My Own

I have been excessively grouchy and stressed-out lately. I'll try to break it down by the following topics:

1. So, it rained this week. A lot. I'm trying not to panic and get my seasonal affective disorder yet. It's still AUGUST and I have plenty of time to figure out what I'll do with two stir-crazy kids for the entire winter, right? For now, I need to enjoy being outside as much as possible. Run! Drink wine on the patio at night! Take Annie and Jemma on walks to town for the sole purpose of making them tired! But, still, the dread of winter is growing within me . . .

2. Jason. It's been a big week for Jason. Lots of working, lots of late nights, a gig, some mountain-biking, and then, today, the acquisition of his long-awaited new TV. It was expensive, it's gigantic, and I hate it. (To be fair, Jason has hung in there with our 2-inch TV from 1986, borrowed from his parents, that we've had for our entire married life.) So . . . there hasn't been a lot of communication. Or a lot of anything warm and fuzzy in the marriage department this week. I resolve to make a date night for us within the next seven days, and maybe to quit stamping my foot and marching from the room in a huff when he does/says something that irritates me. He really is the best husband in the world, usually.

3. Annie. Poor thing, she's just been having such a hard time lately. I don't know if she's overtired, getting sick, feeling pressure about all her upcoming "big girl" events, or what, but the constant whining, defiant attitude, and frequent tantrums are putting me right over the edge in the patience department. We have this new thing we do when she's upset and can't calm herself down. I hold both her hands, we look at each other, and we take deep breaths in and out until she can stop crying or at least listen to me talk to her about it. Frankly, the deep breathing is more for me than for her. I need to remember that she's still technically only TWO and her world must seem so uncontrollable and scary sometimes.

4. Jemma. During the day, unless she's tired, my little sprout is so fun to be with. She's curious about her world, sits and plays happily, crawls around, enjoys the outside, etc. It's at night that Jemma is causing me stress. She's waking up almost every night between 3:00 and 4:00 and then begins the crying. It's approximately every 7-8 minutes, which is just long enough intervals for me to ALMOST fall back to sleep, and then she cries again. I can't decide if she's truly getting hungry this early and I should just go and feed her, or if she's relying on the nursing to soothe her back to sleep so I should quit going in and she'll eventually make it through the whole night without eating. In any case, I'm a zombie because I often don't really get any quality sleep once this all starts. I might as well start going to bed at 8:00 p.m. and starting my day at 4:00 with some e-mailing and light cleaning . . . speaking of cleaning . . .

5. My house. It's in a constant state of chaos in spite of my daily efforts to clean, organize, and keep up with the constant tasks. Just as I've cleaned the bathrooms again, I realize the floors look dirty. Just as I've organized the kitchen, I get new groceries and cook a big meal that dirties hundreds of dishes. And our bedroom! I won't even pretend that it's EVER in a "clean" phase, since there's always either dirty or clean laundry piled up somewhere, waiting to be washed or put away, and the bed is never, ever made. What to do?

So, there's my little tantrum, in a not-so-short version. In spite of all this, I remind myself every single day how blessed and lucky I am to be living here and now. I have people to love who love me back; I have health insurance and a car that runs and a safe, beautiful house; I am healthy, educated, and free to make my own choices. Tomorrow, a little time to myself to read, breathe, run, and organize my week ahead might prevent another tantrum. I hope, I hope . . .

The Calm Before the Storm

Ah, the block party. As the newest member of the block (and the only family who wasn't here to attend last summer's block party), I was somehow nominated to plan this year's. Which, to be honest, wasn't really THAT much work (couple phone calls, some typing, a few errands . . . .).

And then the actual day arrived. Today, we had a hot and humid day with random strong thunderstorms floating around the state. At 5:30, just before the party was to start, we made the call to carry on with the party in spite of the line of frighteningly strong storms moving across the lake from Chicago. At 6:00, the neighbors came out of their houses with meat to grill, beer, and yummy treats to share. Nametags were worn and we met a few new faces on our street. At about 6:15, the much-anticipated fire truck and police car made their appearance, and the kids went crazy, climbing up inside, hearing the horn, watching the flashers. Our neighbor Caden, in particular, pretty much wants to LIVE inside a fire truck, so he was beside himself with glee. At about 6:30, the sky darkened ominously. At 6:48, the downpour began, and that was the end of the 2007 block party. And that's all I have to say about that.

My Favorite Things

Because I turned into an insomniac after the birth of Annie (and have never returned to normal sleeping status), I often spend part of a night out on the couch, reading with the light on so as not to wake up Jason. Last night, I traipsed out there, dragging my pillow, at 5:00 a.m., right after I fed Jemma. I didn't fall back to sleep until close to 6:00. Then, I was awakened at 6:30 by a hard little head burrowing its way onto the pillow.

Annie.

She had woken up because of the thunderstorm and, when I wasn't in my bed, she found me out on the couch. So I pulled her up and tucked her under the blanket with me, and we laid there for at least 15 minutes (which is an eternity for Annie to lie still), watching the thunderstorm and giggling every time the lightning was especially bright. Then, Jason came out to see what we were up to and eventually Jemma woke up and the whole family was snuggling on the couch, in the dark, enjoying the rain. It was totally like the scene from The Sound of Music where Maria sings "A Few of My Favorite Things" - except we had 2 children instead of 6 or 7!

Finally, we turned on some lights, made a big pot of oatmeal, fired up the espresso machine, and had breakfast together. Definitely one of my favorite things.

(Tried to take a picture of Jemma today to post. She was tired, though, and wouldn't stop sucking her fingers/whining for me to hold her. I'll try again tomorrow.)

Crawling, Squatting, Standing, Falling

These are the things Jemma spends her days doing, in that order, over and over, except when interrupted to eat or sleep or be transported somewhere. Otherwise, she's in some area of our house, crawling to an object, squatting on her haunches, standing up next to it briefly, then letting go and falling on her butt. I promise to take a picture of it tomorrow and post it here so everyone can see how silly a 8-month-old, maybe 14-pounder looks when she stands up by herself in the middle of a room.

She's becoming an eater, too, and has finally mastered the pincer grasp, so now she hangs out in her highchair and scoops the food in piece by piece - peas, pears, muffin, stuffing, Cheerios, chicken, broccoli, peaches . . . the list goes on. With any luck, she'll weigh an appropriate, average amount at her 9-month check-up.

Annie was low-key today, except for one major sidewalk meltdown when we had to leave Lucy's. Otherwise, she colored, played with her kitchen and dolls, rode her tricycle, and enjoyed a little time with Miss Kelly while I got groceries. (After Kelly left, Annie announced triumphantly over lunch: "Miss Kelly isn't on vacation anymore!!!)

The yummy fall weather of the past couple days has been cozy, but has already made me realize that Annie has very few warm clothes that still fit her from last winter. Tomorrow, off to the Gap outlet we go!

The Things We Do

How ridiculous is it that I'm sitting here at 10:08 p.m., finally getting to my blog for the day because I'm taking a break from working on Annie's birthday party invitations? I should be IN BED. SLEEPING. Instead, I'm here, swearing at my printer, surrounded by my Martha Stewart Eyelet Invitations, and basically hoping to magically turn into Martha Stewart so I can produce something cute before midnight.

It'll be fun, though, and one of the benefits of sharing a birthday with Annie is the fact that I get to make her party a little bit about me. So we're doing cupcakes (for her) and cocktails (for me), especially since it's my 30th and I'd be setting a poor example for my daughters if I didn't celebrate at least a little. Suddenly, she's so grown-up and charming and just plain fun; hanging out with Jason at night before bed, having opinions about what I wear and giving me compliments ("cute shirt, Mommy!"), playing games and getting excited about winning, having little conversations with us . . . I'm not so much in disbelief, anymore, that she'll be turning 3 and starting school this fall. I think I'll get her prepped for the art centers at school by having her add a little glitter glue to our invitations first thing tomorrow. And then, out they go . . .

The Reunion

Part I:
In which 6 college friends gather for their annual Girls' Weekend . . .

And it really was everthing I'd been looking forward to since, oh, the birth of Jemma. Or maybe since we all said good-bye last year after frolicking around Charlotte, NC. At any rate, there's nothing like spending good, quality time with a group of people who have known you since before you knew your husband. This is the 6th consecutive year that we've set aside a weekend for each other and it's so important to me that I can't imagine ever giving it up.

As usual, we ate too much, slept too little, and talked almost constantly. Also, we got to do something that I realized is one of the little lost pleasures from college: get ready in the morning with other girls. I love Jason, love being married to him and living with him, but getting ready next to a boy is just not the same. It was a treat to hang out in towels and talk while drinking coffee and doing make-up with girls!

So here's the breakdown by the numbers:

0 - pictures taken. Inexcusable. Better next year, right, gang?
1 - confirmed pregnancy among us
2 - lovely restaurant meals we enjoyed without cutting food into tiny pieces for toddlers
3 - times I called Jason to check up on the family
4 - number of us who had to rev up the breast pump every few hours to keep the milk a-flowin'
5 - average hours of sleep per night
6 - pints of Ben & Jerry's out on the counter at midnight last night
7 - approximate hours spent standing around Connie's kitchen island, pretending we were going to stop eating any minute . . .
8 - more years until we're fairly confident that we'll all be done having children and can plan a 15th anniversary bash at a luxury spa in the desert
9 - children we left with others (for the record: Annie, Ben, Greta, Rowan, Amelia, Isaac, Jemma, Sam, and Wyatt)
10 - (at least) times the conversation came around to future baby names. Pathetic.

I feel mentally refreshed, emotionally recharged, and grateful for the support and acceptance of people who know me so well. Can't wait to do it again, over and over and over.


Part II:
In which I am reunited with my family . . .

And discover that they did, indeed, survive without me. Jemma rebelled against the very first bottle, barely choking down 1/2 ounce, and then went on to take 3-4 oz each time, happily, and sleep like a champ. Annie has suddenly become 0h-so-very grown-up and takes showers at night instead of baths (!), enjoys playing Trivial Pursuit (with made-up questions such as, "What does a cow say?"), and answers the phone. I missed them exactly the right amount, and now I'm ready to jump back into the Mommy mode with renewed tolerance, energy, patience, and positive attitude.

And the fact that, when I returned at noon today, everyone was still in pajamas and the house was less-than-perfect? I didn't really even care. I just wanted to eat Jemma's cheeks and smell Annie's hair and sit on the couch and talk. I did, and now I'm very, very happy.

Details

So, today really was a better day. I got lots of things accomplished (laundry, cleaning floors, a short run, cooked a real dinner), plus Annie and Jemma were fairly good-natured. So I don't forget how a typical day-in-the-life goes this time of year, I wanted to write down a few details about both girls before they change all over again.

Annie:

1. Talks all the time, asks tons of questions, has a very large vocabulary, asks me what signs say when we're driving, asks which letters start words, etc. In spite of her good language skills, she still has a few "Annie" words that are hilarious. They include "fridger-fridger" for refrigerator, "chickmuck" for chipmunk, "kanks" for thanks, and "nickie" for naked.

2. New accomplishments include putting undies and shorts back on all by herself after going potty (sometimes things are backwards, but we don't point that out . . .), washing her hands with soap, blowing her own nose, throwing and catching a mini-basketball pretty well, doing somersaults, and mostly putting her shoes on the correct foot.

3. For the first time in her life, she's doing lots of bedtime stalling. This is a girl who, for the last 2 years, has pretty much asked to go to bed when she's tired. Now, not so much. Tonight, she actually took her Gracie (doll) out of bed and hid it in the dining room so that we would have to search for it at bedtime. Other favorite stalling techniques include claiming that she has to poop at the last second, asking to "snuggle me," and needing one more drink of water. We are slowly catching on to her nonsense and trying to head it off with some new bedtime rules and routines.

4. Loves to dance, eat popsicles, chase and be chased, blow bubbles, have her toenails painted, go down slides backwards, eat PB&J for lunch, crawl on the floor with Jemma and make her giggle, watch for familiar cars out the window ("There's Mr. Bergsma! Oh! I see Mrs. MacKeigan with Kate and Ian!"), and do projects with glitter glue.

Jemma:

1. Is everywhere! Every time I turn around for one second, she's pulled herself up on some rickety object or a toy with wheels. No major falls yet, but I'm sure there are some bruises in her future. In spite of all her mobility, there are times of day (mostly when she's tired) when she really wants to be held, so my left arm is pretty strong.

2. Sucks the same two fingers that Annie did as a baby. Is this genetic? Good thing we'll be getting free orthodontic work . . .

3. Waved at me today, I think. She was crawling down the hallway, stopped, turned and looked at me, and raised a hand in the air and scrunched her fingers in response to my voice. She absolutely lights up whenever she hears Annie's giggle or Jason's voice when he gets home from work.

4. Loves, loves, loves to be outside. When she's fussy and bored, all I have to do is take her outside and she immediately calms down and gets happy. What will we do when winter arrives?

I sure love my girls!

Ummm . . .

Too weak to blog tonight. My oldest child has sucked the life out of me all day long. It ended when my patience finally ran out during Jemma's bath. I totally lost it and shouted at Annie so loudly that Jemma's poor little face puckered up and she started crying inconsolably. (We have a very small, echoey bathroom.) Good mom.

And Annie? She pointed a finger at me and shouted right back: "Stop!!!!! Shouting!!!!"

Friends, the only thing getting me through is the promise, in the not-so-far distance, of the long-awaited Girls' Weekend. 48 hours from now, with any luck, I'll be having a glass of wine and admiring my new pedicure with five of my favorite friends in the world.

Tomorrow, I promise, I'll return to regular-mommy programming and summon the energy to blog about the clever little things my girls say and do. For now, to bed.

And Have I Mentioned That I Love My Neighbors?

I do. I mean, I really do. Some perfect combination of fate, luck and God's providence has landed us on this little street where people help each other out during tough spots, take time to talk in driveways, and, around 4:00 every day, come out of their houses for a walk around the block. Maybe we'll end up in someone's front yard. Maybe we'll end up in someone's basement, talking about Art Van furniture deals and paint colors while all the kids play. And nobody cares if I haven't showered since last night or if Jemma is fussy or if Annie's clothes match. When I think about how we could have just "settled" for staying in South Haven and making the best of it, I'm so, so unspeakably glad that we took the chance and moved to where our hearts led us. We haven't even been here a year, and already I'm rationalizing away the flaws in my house because I wouldn't really want to leave it. I can be myself here, and, best of all, so can my kids. I love knowing that they'll grow up surrounded by other kids just their age - fighting, learning to share, giggling, riding bikes and scooters and running through sprinklers - who will become almost like an extended family. What more could we ask for?

Summer's Last Hurrah

We've returned from our last little mini-vacation of the summer, and I'm a little sad about that. I know it's only mid-August, but, really, we've already posted two football schedules on our fridge and penciled Annie's fall schedule into the calendar (Monday/Wednesday preschool and Twinkle Toes I on Thursday mornings!). I just got back from a run at 9:23 and it was almost totally dark. All things considered, it's almost fall, so the summer fun we had this weekend was much-treasured.

The car rides were actually pretty tolerable, with the worst moment being a Jemma "spell" that lasted for about 20 minutes on the way up. On our way home last night, we tempted fate and left at 7:00, hoping for the best; they slept the whole way! While actually in Petoskey, we spent lots of time on the boat and just hanging around Bampa and Grammy's house. The weather was perfect for swimming! Post-boat, the girls spent lots of time in their diapers/underwear, eating corn on the cob and laughing across the table at one another. The best meal of the weekend was, of course, brunch at Bay View - my personal favorite brunch in the whole world an a must-do each summer. So glad we squeezed it in. Jemma sat prettily in her high-chair, eating crackers, pineapple, and cantaloupe while Annie was thrilled with her giant waffle with cherries and whipped cream.

Getting home late last night gave us all day today to extend our little vacation. In between throwing loads of laundry into the washing machine and unpacking here and there, we had a really fun day. We took a post-breakfast walk, then packed up and went to the pool for lunch, came home for naps, and ran through the sprinkler with neighbors this afternoon. For dinner, we had a picnic down by the lake and went to Jersey Junction afterwards. (If only Annie could remember all the fun we packed into this one day and let us off the hook for "going somewhere" for the rest of the week.) Even though not much gets accomplished, I do love days like this when Jason's home and the weather is perfect and I feel so lucky to live when and where I do. Today, I was good at "living in the moment" (because, today, the moment didn't suck).

Good Times

Just got home from seeing two performers outside at Meijer Gardens - Dar Williams and a group called Over the Rhine - with Chris and Sarah. It was great to sit outside, drink some wine, and listen to fun music. It put me in a much better mood after my loooooooong day of packing for tomorrow's journey up north.

Highlights from today (or lowlights, as the case may be):

1. Jemma attempting to climb the stairs. She crawled over, pulled herself up to standing with her hands on the first step, then reached her arms up to step number two and tried to hoist her chubby thigh up to step one. She fell down, cried for a few seconds, then tried again. Time for yet another gate . . .

2. My trip to Target with the girls. We were in the food section, with Annie in the cart whining, "Mommy, I don't want to go at Target," and Jemma in the Baby Bjorn, trying to knock everything off the shelves. As I turned the corner of an aisle, I ran smack into another mom. Her hair was, of course, in a messy ponytail, she had a baby attached to her via the Bjorn and a naughty toddler in her cart who had just made the baby cry. The mom looked at me; I looked at her. "Good times," she said. A moment of solidarity in Target . . .

3. Listening to the same two children's songs over and over and over and over so that I now question whether there is room in my head for any other songs. (For the record, they are "Five Frogs" by Anna Moo and "Goldfish" by Laurie Berkner.) So help me, if I have to hear them in the car tomorrow, I might not make it up north. But, desperate times call for desperate measures, so I have packed them along with the suckers just in case.

R.I.P., Miss Louise

Annie, Jemma and I set out in the scorching heat this afternoon to deliver the invitations to our block party. Right away, Annie says, "Mom, let's go give one to Miss Louise. Think she'll come to the party?"

I summoned all my courage and my "everything's-normal" voice and said, "Oh, honey, Miss Louise was so old and had been sick for a long time, so she died and went to heaven to live with Jesus." Then I held my breath.

Annie looked at me for a second, then said, "Oh, honey, okay," and kept walking along. We made it most of the way around the block, talking about random things, sticking the fliers in mailboxes, until we reached the across-the-street neighbors, who were outside when we walked up the driveway.

"So, Miss Louise gets to live with Jesus, like at church!" Annie announced. Luckily, my neighbor is a pre-school teacher, so she just agreed heartily and smiled at me as we went on our way. Inside, I'm breathing a sigh of relief; we've had our first "death" discussion, and Annie doesn't seem traumatized. Pshew.

We're gearing up to do one more summer trip up north this weekend. I'm already spending at least 50% of my time dreading the drive and trying to figure out how to keep Jemma from screaming the whole way there and back. She is just so into crawling and moving that she hates to be confined to her carseat for any more than 15 minutes . . . this is a problem. Is 7 months too young for a giant sucker? Annie, on the other hand, will do fine as long as we let her have one of the evil, sugary suckers and listen to the Laurie Berkner song "Goldfish" on repeat 52,000 times. Can't wait! I'm hoping for some good boating/swimming weather, some quality time with my niece, and maybe a lovely brunch at Bay View to make the hellish drive worth it.

Has everyone seen the new fall stuff on babystyle? Oh, my . . .

Such a Big Girl

Annie, Jemma and I took a post-dinner walk tonight to kill some time before Jemma's bath. We were ambling down the sidewalk when my neighbor Kelli, with whom I am planning our block party, drove by. She stopped and rolled down her window so we could figure out some details. Then we got to talking about our fall plans, and I mentioned that Annie would be starting preschool.

"Wow, Annie," said Kelli encouragingly. "You're such a big girl!" Annie, who had mostly been sweeping leaves into piles on the sidewalk, finally turned around and gave Kelli a big smile.

"I know," she said proudly. "And I just went poop." Ah, there it is. Potty-trained for about two months, and still, she's sharing her news with everyone she sees.

I just walked to Jersey Junction so I could end my day in my favorite way: with ice cream (a vanilla malt, to be exact).

Happy Eating

I had to take a couple of pictures of Jemma in her highchair tonight, happily eating with one foot kicked up in the air and strawberries all over her face. Annie, too, is happy - because she got a cookie for dessert. Mmmm, Mint Milanos!

Annie had a good day today, which means I had a good day today. She chose her own outfit this morning, and it consisted of a too-small purple tank top, a too-big pair of different-color-purple shorts and a non-matching hair bow. I was a little embarrassed that her stomach was hanging out for the world to see, but then her outfit led to today's funniest moment . . .

She and Lucy (in a rare and glorious moment of cooperation) were practicing somersaults and cartwheels on our front lawn. Lucy was helping Annie flip over and suddenly, Lucy was holding Annie's too-big shorts and underwear while Annie lay half-naked in the grass. Sarah and I cracked up, and the girls did, too, once they saw that it was OK to laugh at being "nakie" outside. Annie has now told the story several times and she cracks herself up at the end of it.

Dancing to Toto, and more . . .

Lately, I've been entering the living room of my house (returning from my morning run, coming down from upstairs, after putting Jemma to bed . . .) to find Annie and Jason having a total dance party on the rug while Toto songs blast from the speakers and their videos play on the TV. Strange? Not at our house, where we are the current holders of a "Toto Videos" DVD from our Blockbluster online account. So, one of the very first "non-kid" songs that Annie knows some words to is "Africa," which has the most non-sensical lyrics ever. (At least it isn't Poison's "Talk Dirty To Me," another, less-appropriate Jason favorite which he karaoked at our neighbor's party last night.)

Other things that have been happening at our house: Jemma has spent the last two days repeating her new-found consonant sounds - b, d, and g - over and over; Annie has (hopefully) emerged from her worst bout of the terrible two's ever (in which she told both Jason and I, "I don't love you," and calmly uttered the phrase, "Actually, I am going to keep hitting you," after a very ineffective time-out for hitting); we ate an entire batch of oatmeal cookies that Kelly made on Thursday afternoon before she came back to babysit again last night (!); a Three Chairs delivery truck pulled into our driveway on Friday afternoon and out popped a new dining room table and six chairs in what has to be the most ridiculously perfect and extravagant 30th birthday present EVER from Jason plus lots of our extended family (I love it! It's huge! I'll keep it forever and ever and ever!); we actually ALL made it to church this morning AND managed to last through the entire hour. Whew!

It's raining and cooler today, which of course makes me want fall desperately. (Not winter, just fall.) As a result of last night's party, we're even more in love with our neighborhood and are so excited for all the fun fall things we'll do this year - tailgate before football games! have a Halloween party! host a fall pj breakfast party! But for this afternoon, the girls are napping, the house is mostly clean, and I might just get to finish reading my Real Simple before we're on to the next family adventure.

It's just after 7:00 a.m., and I just got back from a sunrise walk with Jemma. When she woke up, squaking happily at 6:10, I decided to whisk her out of the house before she woke up Annie, too. It was a nice, quiet way to start my day; I might make it a habit while the weather is still warm.

Yesterday, we went to the pool with my parents in the afternoon. Annie had the best time running though the squirters, splashing Bampa, and sitting in her little red chair drinking a smoothie. Jemma, who hadn't really wanted to take her usual afternoon nap, was tired and fell asleep on me for about 40 minutes. It was 95 degrees yesterday, so those 40 minutes were among the hottest of my life.

Later, when I was getting ready to tuck Annie into bed, I told her that I was tired, too, and wanted to go to bed soon after she did. She thought a minute, then looked at me, wide-eyed, and said, "Mommy, do you go to sleep without anyone singing you the night-night song?!?" I admitted that I do, and she looked sad and confused about it. Cutie. I wonder how many more years we have of singing to Annie at bedtime before she decides she's "too big" for it.