I realize that I haven't posted for awhile but when life is an adventure, sometimes it is hard to stop and reflect when you are always on the go. The girls are almost 14 months old and have grown so much since their 1st birthday.
Just a quick update:
- "talking" allllllll the time. She says so many words and strings so many sounds together that is sounds like she is having a conversation with herself. She says, mama, wow, hi, bye, pretty, okee dokee, Daisy, woof. Her favorite word is, "no."
- She scoots on her butt to "crawl." She gets some power into it too. She digs her heels into the ground and scoots towards her direction. She even gets her head into the action and uses her whole body to propel forward.
- She is standing a lot and loves to pull herself upright. Her legs still are VERY shakey and I don't think she will be walking any time soon but she will finger walk (holding your hands) very well.
- LOVES LOVES LOVES food. She will eat almost anything you put in front of her. I can pretty much rely on the fact that she will at least try something at least once.
- wears size 2t clothes and size 5 shoe.
- wears size 5 diaper
- weighs around 28 lbs
- sleeps 12 hours a night. She goes to bed at 5:30 pm and gets up at 5:30 am.
- takes a 1-2 hour morning nap (around 8 am)
- takes a 1-2 hour nap (sometimes) around 12 pm.
Adelyn:
- talks a lot but doesn't say too many words. She strings many sounds together but few words.She does say: no, hi, die die (bye bye), sista, woof woof, mama, no go (???), Daisy, wow
- She crawls super fast. She sits and stands all the time. She can pull herself up and lately she will stop holding onto something and stand free :). She will be walking soon. Crap.
- She is such a picky eater. Her first response to food it to close her lips, tilt her head back, shake it back and forth and then scream, "no no no." Half the time she loved the exact same food the day before, if not, the hour before. She is sooooo stubborn. I wonder where she gets that from (me...grrr). Usually, I offer the food to her, she turns it down, then I turn and offer it to Clara and after the 3rd or 4th time, Adelyn may or may not take a bite.
- I have read the research and I know that she will eat when she is hungry and knows what she likes/doesn't. It just is a little frustrating...which I know will be one of MANY frustrations that my daughters will put me through in their lives.
- wears size 2t clothes and size 5 shoe
- wears size 5 diaper
- weighs around 28lbs
- sleeps 11-12 hours a night. She goes to be around 5:30 pm and gets up around 5 am.
- takes a 1 hour mourning nap (around 8 am)
- takes a 1-2 hour nap (not often) around 12 pm
This year my step sister Alli hosted dinner at her house. It is about an hour drive so she graciously had it early enough so that the girls and I could enjoy our visit. We got there around 3 pm. Unfortunately Clara started crying about 15 minutes into the ride and shortly after that, I had to pee. Needless to say, the car ride was not enjoyable.
Nothing comes easy in my life nowadays either. I can't just "arrive" somewhere and immediately start relaxing. As any mother of multiples knows you can NEVER pack lightly. The girls aren't old enough to sit in chairs so if we go anywhere, besides a restaurant, I have to bring high chairs, and diaper bag. I also had to bring my supplies for dinner so that was in another bag...oh yeah, and my two kids. Before I was able to sit and relax, I think I made 5 trips back and forth from the car.
Once all the initial unloading was done, it was time to unload physically and relax with the family. It was sooo fun to see my girls playing with their cousins. The house was packed with family and my niece McKenna was such a great entertainer for the girls. She made them laugh and played with them on the floor. Alli did such a nice job cooking and everything was beautiful.
I ended up sitting at the "kids' table" since I had to feed my girls but it was fun to converse with all the kiddos.
We had to leave a little 5 since the girls go to bed at 5:30. I had changed them into their pjs before we left and they slept the whole way home. I was able to scoop them up from the car and put them directly into bed for a long night sleep.
Black Friday:
Since I was a little girl...maybe 4 years old or so....every Friday after Thanksgiving I went shopping with my grandma and aunt. I don't think they called it "Black Friday" back then but we would get up around 6 am and leave the house around 7 am. Our day consisted of driving to downtown Seattle and admiring all the Christmas window decorations. After a couple hours of window shopping, we would go to Fredrick's and Nelson's for lunch. As the years passed, our distances shortened to Northgate area and then finally in the later years of my grandma's life, Alderwood. It didn't matter where we went or how much shopping we actually did, it was the tradition that I valued. 34 years of tradition and I was so excited to continue that tradition with my daughters. My grandma is now passed and my aunt snowbirds in Arizona during this time so I wanted to revitalize the tradition with my mom and the girls.
Last year we took the girls to Alderwood and they did great...granted they were only 6 weeks old and slept most of the time. This year the girls were almost 14 months old and let's just say they didn't sleep. We decided to head out after their morning nap so that they would be rested and left about 10 am. I made the horrible decision that we should go back to the Alderwood Mall since it had the most stores that we could access on our shopping excursion. Wrong decision.
First of all the mall parking lot was packed. It was pouring down rain, and we drove around the covered parking area but my claustrophobia was kicking in strong and there was clearly no open spots. We found an empty section in the pouring rain near JCPenny's. JCPenny's was ground zero for the shopping mecca. It was a NIGHTMARE. There was barely any room to push the stroller down the aisle and if there was, it was packed with people. The store did have amazing deals but the lines to pay were at least 20+ deep. We would have had to wait at least 30/40 minutes to just pay. Not going to happen especially not with two 14 month olds crying.
We made the smart decision to get out of there as quickly as possible. Our next stop was Justice to get my niece and nephew their gifts. The girls and I paced in the stroller in the front of the store while my mom did her shopping inside. After that we were on the verge of leaving when we came upon the ONE place that didn't have a line...Santa. Really??? I was not prepared for Santa but I couldn't pass up the no line factor. We made our way to the front. Unfortunately Adelyn wasn't too into the man in the white beard this year. Santa told me to give him the "nice boy" first. UMMMM...they're girls Santa...Grrrr....
I placed Clara on his lap and we backed Adelyn into him so that she didn't see him. Miss Independent was too observant and was on to our trickery. She immediately started screaming and they took the picture. Merry Christmas. The only thing I wish is that they had been in cuter outfits. Bummer...oh well...next year.
You would have thought that was enough of an adventure...but oh no. We made our way back to JCPenny's and I left my mom, Clara, and the stroller inside the waiting area by a back door. It was a different entrance/exit than which we had come in so I was a little turned around about where I had parked. It was raining soooo hard outside that the plan was for me to take Adelyn (she had been crying and didn't want to be put down) with me. We would grab the car and then come pick up Mom and Clara. I wish it had been that easy. As soon as I left the door, Adelyn and I made a mad dash for the under cover parking area. I thought I recognized it from our original parking attempt. I was wrong. We ran through it and out the other side and the car was no where in site. While clinging to my daughter, we made a mad dash through about half of the mall's entire parking lot. At least Adelyn had a jacket on but the rain was coming down so hard.
It was not a Mother of the Year moment.
By the time I actually found and got Adelyn in the car, I had to find a towel to wipe her down. She and I decided to count that as her bath for the day. Ironically as I left to pick up Mom and Clara, my car was parked literally in front of the door I had left. I ran in rain for nothing. I probably could have seen my car from JCPenny's but instead I took the left when I should have just gone straight. All in all, I think we lasted about 1 hour out in Black Friday.
We took our emotional wounds to lunch at Red Robin and the girls did such a great job. I ordered some fish and chips (which they both absolutely love) and we all split a chocolate milk shake. It was a nice way to end our chaotic Black Friday adventure. This marked our last Black Friday shopping day tradition. In the future we are going to start a new tradition....Saturday or Sunday After Thanksgiving Shopping. It is just brutal out there and times have changed. It is the not the same experience that I had most of my life and I don't want that type of chaos to be what my girls remember.
