Long Jump

This is what happens when I go to the bathroom...

I know that instead of video taping this I should have told her to stop - but I couldn't resist. 

My girl can JUMP!

Taking a Break

The last couple of months have been pretty intense around here - we added a new member to our family, celebrated J's 3rd birthday, went on a family trip to Prague and have been doing the typical running around that people do with their kids.  Needless to say, Mike and I needed a break. A break from the routine. A break from sleepless nights. A break from the kids.
Some might read this and gasp at the idea.  But for the sake of being honest, we did. We needed a break from the two little people who require a whole lot from us all.the.time. And luckily for us, I have two parents who happily took on the responsibility of the two little people so we could get our break.  Since my birthday is coming up, we felt this was a perfect opportunity for us.  We didn't go far but drove far enough to feel like we got away.  We went to this adorable spa in Connecticut and basically got massaged, sat in a jacuzzi, tasted some wines, had tea and scones ate good food and most importantly had a great night's sleep.  We needed this.  We needed the break.  We needed to just be husband and wife and not mommy and daddy, if only for a day or two.
The best part? Coming home to my kids and hearing that they were great while we were gone...ate well...slept well...and behaved with grandma and papa. I can't say that I "missed" them (I mean it was only one night!) but I definitely was excited to come home and be done with my break.

Princess Problems

We're having some princess problems over here. My daughter is OBSESSED with princesses - now I can (kind of) deal with the movies and princess toys. But she takes it to the next level...she insists on wearing a "princess dress" (which is really any dress) every.single.day.  This drives me INSANE.

skirts are ok too!

First of all, I am the furthest thing from a girly-girl ever. My idea of an outfit is jeans, t-shirt, and flip flops with my hair in a messy pony tail. I refused to wear frilly underwear as a kid and in every school picture I'm wearing sweat pants.  (When I asked my mom about this, she said I refused to wear dresses - karma's a bitch!)

 But J has taken it to another level - the biggest insult she can give another little girl is "you are NOT a princess!" And she'll tell you this if you're not wearing a dress. I don't know where she got this from...but it's too a point where she says she's not a princess if she's not wearing a dress. At school, she had a full on meltdown when they had to change her clothes and all they had were pants. 
 This kind of breaks my heart. I want her to feel like a 'princess' no matter what she's wearing.  And we try to enforce this when she's playing soccer (and can't wear a dress) by saying how she's still a princess even in her soccer jersey. And when she has swim - obviously, she's a swimming princess.
Are we doing major psychological self-esteem damage here? Is this just a princess phase? Will she ever wear pants again? Are there any princesses that wear pants?
My husband makes fun of me, he thinks this is "my" issue - not hers. My response to him?
"You are NOT a prince!"

Solids!

J feeding her little brother!

Starting solids is a messy messy ordeal, especially when you have an over-eager toddler helper on your hands.  We got the okay from our pediatrician to start solids with A and one of the things I definitely did right with J is with food.  She eats everything.  She's willing to try new foods (well, most of the time) and she typically just eats whatever we're eating. Case in point: devoured liver meatballs and beef goulash during our trip to Prague.
I want to make sure I do the same thing with A.  And basically once I started foods with J, I didn't stop - every 3-4 days I tried something new and just kept going and going...

Cannot get the food in fast enough

So A started solids about a week ago and so far he has enjoyed rice cereal, bananas, and avocado. And so far so good.  My fingers are crossed for an equally good eater.  The only difference is that this time, I'm trying my hand at making my own baby food.  For those that know me, this is definitely from my "crunchier" side.  I didn't even attempt this with J, but definitely something I wanted to at least try with A.  My best friend bought us the Baby Bullet and honestly, it's super easy.  One banana gave me almost 6 jars of food and one avocado gave me about the same.  So I have plenty of food for the week with two pieces of fruit and it took me five minutes, literally. I imagine I'll have to buy some more jars as he starts eating more and I'll definitely buy some baby food from the store, just to make sure I have it on hand, but the thought of not having the additives/preservatives in his food makes me happy.
Now, anytime you feed a 4.5 month old, it's going to get messy, but throw in my happy-to-help 3 year old and it's a MESS.  But if she can teach him all her good eating habits...I'll be a happy mommy.