My blog says "Stop ignoring me!"

Today is as good a time as any to revive the blog - Amy had her six-month checkup today. Yes, six months. I can hardly believe it myself. Time really does fly when you're having fun. Amy is a great baby. She's super happy, very independent and just loves life. We are very lucky and blessed.
Her six-month appointment today was followed up by a physical therapy appointment last week. Her physical therapist is very happy with Amy's progress (she's rolling over both ways, grabbing toys, making raspberries and has pretty good balance) and says she's right where she's supposed to be for a 4 1/2 month old. She's even doing some six month things.
Today's doctor appointment went well. I always like to go see the girls' pediatrician because he's a great guy. Matt and I love him. He spends the first 15 minutes talking about Matt's basketball season (more on that in a little bit) and then he gets into the kids. I like the small talk personally. It shows that he cares about our family.
Amy weighs a little more than 14 pounds and is a little more than 25 inches. Right where she should be. The doctor was very impressed with her balance as well and that she's making raspberries, grabbing toys, and doing all the other six month baby things. We started Amy on rice cereal a couple weeks ago and she loves it so the doc said we can start to incorporate other foods. I would really like to puree our own fresh veggies rather than buy the jarred baby food so I am going to look into that in the next couple days before we start her on everything this weekend. Matt and I were trying to remember how it works...do we still give Amy rice cereal? Do we give her the whole bottle? We were giving her six of the 8 oz of formula and using the last two to make the rice cereal. I will be emailing the doctor once I finish my novel here. :)
All in all, Amy is doing great and we just love how much joy she brings to our family. She's sleeping really well and she loves going to Matt's games. She even likes watching sports on television, which is great when I have to sit with Diana to do homework or fix dinner on nights when Matt isn't home. I know that sounds terrible, but hey...she's quiet and happy!
I am very lucky to have two little girls who love one another as well. Both of them bring a smile to each other's face every day and I love to watch them interact with one another.
On to Miss D! Diana is doing great in Pre-K. I was super proud of her the other day when a girl in her class told Diana that she wasn't her friend (this wasn't the first time this has happened). Diana immediately responded with "We're all friends!" I almost cried, I was so happy! My little girl is growing up right before my eyes. She's toned down the tantrums and I think she's done with them...or so I hope. She loves to play with Amy but when she's done it's "Mommy, I don't want to play with Amy anymore." There's a little sass in her tone too as if Amy did something to offend her. It's pretty funny.
Diana has also gotten the courage to sit behind Matt's bench at his games and hand the girls their towels when they come out of the game. We have been trying to get her to do this for a couple years and all of a sudden she decided she wanted to. She just does it in the second half so I can sit on the baseline and take pictures of the team and keep an eye on her, but she loves it and she's great at it.
I try to make sure that Matt watches his language or goes away from where Diana is sitting when he just can't resist, but she hears it enough at home, so I guess it's no big deal.
When Matt was watching film the other night, Diana was looking for herself on the television. She asked Matt "Daddy, where's my helper?" We didn't quite know what to say because SHE'S the helper. After a couple minutes of blankly staring at each other, Matt says "OOooh, you mean Victor (the team's student trainer who hands the girls water)?" Diana says "Yes." We started laughing so hard because to Diana, he's HER helper.
Matt's season is going really well. You can follow the team on the team's blog www.solanowbb.wordpress.com. The blog is the reason I haven't been here much. I update the blog, do game notes and a variety of other assistant coach/wife duties that I absolutely love doing. I never stop going these days, but it's so much fun for me to be involved.
And it's even more fun when the team is winning. We are really looking forward to an exciting conclusion to the season and hope that only good things come our way.
I haven't been working out as much because of all the extra work I am doing. I try to fit in a session on the Wii we got for Christmas, but it's been hard lately. Once basketball season is over, it'll be easier. I love doing yoga, boxing, step aerobics and running on the Wii Fit Plus. It's a great workout...shocking even to me. I love it and Diana has actually gotten into it as well. She's quite the bowler and I challenge anyone to come over to the house and take her on!
Hopefully I won't be absent much from the blog as our basketball season winds down. I love talking about my family so it's been killing me to ignore this blog for as long as I have.

A very Borchert holiday season

I intended to post photos here from our holiday season, but never got around the taking the photos out of my camera until this past weekend. The photos have escaped and they can be found here. Please enjoy looking at the photos as much as I enjoyed taking them!

There aren't any descriptions on the photos unfortunately because I didn't have time to go through them all. You can be creative and make your own! :)

So busy

It's a busy time of year and with me helping out Matt's basketball team as the team's unofficial sports information director, I have been going non-stop for a while now. I enjoy it though. I don't think I remember what being bored is and I am pretty sure I wouldn't like it.
I don't have any pictures to share but I wanted to let everyone know of the Christmas present that Matt bought us ... a new mini-van! He bought it last Friday, a Toyota Sienna. It's burgandy (though I am sure that the official color is something much fancier) and has a DVD player in it. Diana loves it because she has her own princess seat.
Our driveway is much smaller now, but everyone has room now to stretch their legs out in both our cars! :)

Here's wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

I am Frankie Heck

One of our favorite TV shows this season is The Middle on ABC. It stars Patricia Heaton as a working mom (she's a car saleswoman) in Indiana. Her family is a little crazy.
Last week's episode saw Frankie earn a solo in the church choir. Because of all the rehearsing that was necessary, she passed the duties of Christmas on to her husband. Frankie is a list maker (so am I) and at Christmas she makes lists of everything that needs to get done and everything that needs to be purchased.
Christmas, she claims, is very stressful and she had a hard time convincing her husband of this. She passed her list on to him and he handled all the duties that Frankie always took care of. Long story short, though he was OK at first, he got a little flustered at the end and realized that, yes, Christmas is a crazy time of year.
I never believed that Christmas was stressful. I am a planner. I do my Christmas shopping online and weeks before Christmas. I didn't bake cookies or anything because Matt enjoys that and that's his thing. We only travel every other year a great distance so that was no biggie. There was always plenty of time to take care of everything.
Until we became a family of four.
Now there's all kinds of stuff to do. I want to bake cookies, take Diana to Candy Cane and Lolly Pop lanes to see the awesome Christmas lights, write (and send) our annual Christmas letter, decorate the tree, buy and wrap Christmas presents for the family under my roof, my immediate family and my extended family and all while being a working mom and a Coach's wife.
Last night, I got off work, rushed home to pick up Diana (who was eating dinner in her ballet outfit)and we headed off to her final ballet class of the season. After, I wanted to take her to Candy Cane Lane. It was 6:30 by the time we left ballet and it's always a gamble to keep Miss D up after her bedtime on a school night. I knew that taking her to Candy Cane Lane was worth it though. It was...she loved the lights and had a great time. I was beaming at my awesome parenting decision!
She went to bed a little later that night and with no tantrum. Score!
I finally had something for dinner at around 8 p.m. and I am hoping that the Christmas presents that I purchased on my lunch break yesterday get wrapped eventually. They are in the trunk of my car right now and if I forget about them a week from now, God help me!
I admit, there's a lot going on this time of year. I am not complaining by any stretch of the imagination. I have embraced the chaos that is now my life. I can relate though to Frankie Heck and appreciate her every day!

Our brave girls

Diana hasn't visited Santa since she was six months old. I don't know how she knew that Santa was a "scary" guy then, but she screamed the entire time. I, of course, purchased the two-keychain set of the picture of Diana screaming while sitting on Santa's lap and showed them off to everyone. Most people thought I was wrong for making that purchase, but it's memories. I am going to have to find that keychain because I know it's in the house somewhere.
For the past three Christmases Diana has taken a pass on visiting Santa. She wanted nothing to do with the Jolly Man. But this year, she was all about it. So on Wednesday, we headed to the mall after work with the little gals in tow and hoped that she didn't have second thoughts.
While waiting for the kids in front of her to finish, Diana kept saying "Hi Santa! Hi!" Cute.
When the kids went away and I told Diana to go up, she got a little nervous. I told her it was her turn and to go up and sit on the bench with Santa. Still nothing. Now, this wasn't a total refusal. She was thinking about it, but just needed some convincing.
"Mommy, I want Amy to go first," she said.
Sure, Diana, sacrifice the baby! In her mind, Diana's thinking, this guy might eat me, take me back to the North Pole and I will never see Mommy, Daddy and Amy again or worse! So, let's put the baby up there and see what happens.
I put Amy on Santa's lap and sure enough, he did not eat her or run as fast as he could out of the mall with her.
So, Diana jumped up on the bench with Santa and told him all the things she wanted for Christmas. It helped that Santa knew that a little girl wearing pink is probably a princess lover. Diana rattled on for 3 minutes about all the princess stuff she wanted. I was so proud of her!
The girls took the picture and it was time to get down. I collected the baby - with no teeth marks on her - and turned around to leave. Only, there was no 4-year-old with me.
"Oh, I want a princess castle too," I hear Diana say. She's STILL talking to Santa!
"D, time to go, hun!"
She got her Candy Cane and we headed out. She was beaming and I am sure that her teacher at school is hearing all about it today!
Later that night, day two of Christmas tree decorating took place. We are doing it in segments this year. Sunday was Day One: Tree Purchase and put the lights on. Oh the life of a family of four!

Party Pooper

When Diana came home from school one day last week, she came home with an envelope with the words "Princess Diana Borchert" written on the front. Curious, I thought.
I opened it to find an invitation to a princess-themed birthday party for a girl who used to be in her same class at school. The girl has since moved to another classroom, but I think they play together every now and again when the classes join together.
Diana was obviously very excited and carried it around the house the rest of the night telling us which of her princess dresses she was going to wear to the party.
Sunday came and I finally got around to calling the mom to RSVP to the party. (I am way old-fashioned that way).
The mom informs me that this is a kid-only party (no parents allowed) because the little girl's grandmother has terminal cancer and can't have a lot of people around. The mom is videotaping the party as a keepsake for the little girl so she has something to remember her grandmother by.
Well, I don't know these people. I was flattered that they invited Diana but I can't send my four-year-old to someone's house that we don't know. Who knows if they are telling the truth about this grandmother? What kind of food are they going to serve my kid when I am not there?
The mom explained that she understood if we didn't want to send Diana to a stranger's house. Damn straight. I wish this would have been explained in the invite so we didn't get Diana's hopes up.
My plan was to explain about the party to Diana when she brought it up later in the week.
Well, she brought it up tonight. I explained to her about the parents not being able to be there and she said "Well, I guess I will just have to go by myself." She said it in the most serious voice ever. I said "Well, not quite D. I will talk to Daddy."
There's no way D can go to this party. I hate to be the party pooper but being a good mommy is way more important.

A growing girl

Amy had her four-month well check and shots yesterday and despite spending 2 1/2 hours at the doctor's office yesterday, I left a very happy Momma!
Amy is now 12 pounds which is great because you can actually see the chubs on this girl. It's so fun to just kiss her big ole tummy and grab her big ole thighs. I know some babies are born at 12 pounds and mine is four months and 12 pounds, but a healthy, happy girl is all I need!
She's also a whopping 24 inches. The doctor said that if she was a term baby (meaning if she was born at 40 weeks) she would be in the 90th percentile for height. Well, that's awesome! He suggested that she might be out of point guard status and possibly might be a power forward. That's great!
Now, I am not naive. I am a realist. I know that all that "percentile" talk is all just silliness. A kid's weight and height can't be determined or predicted from the time they are a baby. It's just silly. But...BUT...it's exciting to know that Amy might have inherited the tall gene. Especially considering how early she was born. I mean, she was three pounds at birth, but still 16 inches so that's a pretty long preemie.
All that really matters is that she is healthy. Amy isn't quite holding her head up all by herself all the time and she's certainly no where close to sitting up on her own so we can't quite start rice cereal yet. That's OK. The doctor said that we are doing everything right by talking to her, giving her things to play with and having her do tummy time, etc. That was definitely good news because as a mom of two, sometimes I feel like the little one doesn't quite get the attention she needs except when it's time to eat.
I really do miss my cuddle time with Amy and as week two at work comes to an end, I look forward to four days with my girls all to myself!

On a side note: Go Falcons this weekend! Please come home with three wins and a trophy!

The no-cavity club

Diana had her third visit to the dentist today. I wasn't sure how she was going to do considering she threw a monster tantrum this morning. I actually walked into the dentist and told them that I didn't think she would be sitting for them today. I had accepted that it just wasn't going to happen. And this was after she had completely settled down and was playing in the lobby of the dentist office.
she sat and colored and played in my purse while I had my teeth cleaned and when it was her turn, she eagerly went with the hygenist, Eve, to her chair. She still had to sit on my lap, but she opened her mouth and let Eve clean her teeth with the same automatic toothbrush they use on adults (I later found out that they used cookie dough-flavored toothpaste on her..jealous!). Diana then let Eve floss her teeth. I was amazed!
The dentist then came over and Eve explained that he wanted to count her teeth. I said, "Diana, you know how many teeth you have!" Last time we were at the dentist, he told her how many and my kid has this great memory.
"Twenty," she said confidently.
The dentist just about fell out of his chair. He stopped what he was doing and just looked at me in a state of shock. He couldn't believe that a four-year-old would remember such a thing.
I was so proud!
He looked at her teeth, praised her for taking such great care of them and rewarded her with a purple toothbrush, stickers and a ribbon that inducted her into the No Cavity Club. Me proud once again!
Later in the day, Diana told me: "Mommy, I had so much fun at the dentist!"
Yeah, if I got four stickers, a ribbon, a new purple toothbrush and all the attention in the world...I would be loving it too!
All I got was a stinkin' box of travel-sized toothpaste and a reminder to go visit the periodonist!

First week is almost over

Re-entry is not easy. It's difficult to take four months off work - four months away from adult conversation, four months away from friends, four months away from a rewarding job that is really fun.
But this week, I had to go back. I was looking forward to it though. I enjoyed the last three and a half months though. I accomplished a lot. I bonded with with Amy and gave her a great start in life. I experimented in the kitchen and became a more confident chef. I began to teach Diana how to read and she's very confident now with her sight words and feels that no book is too hard to read.
It was a great four months.
Monday was hard though. Diana spent Sunday night at Gramma V's in order to give Matt and me a chance to get a routine down with Amy. I woke up and fed her a bottle at around 5 a.m., brought her upstairs and took a shower while she chilled in her chair, packed up all her goodies for the day and we were out of the house by 6:30 a.m.
I learned that pre-planning is crucial. Sunday afternoon I made scones (thanks, Mama Parker for the recipe)and planned on making fresh fruit smoothies for breakfast this week with our Magic Bullet. I put the scones in Ziploc baggies so they were easy to grab on the way out of the house. I also packed my lunch the night before. All that I had to do each morning was take a shower, do my hair and makeup and the rest of the morning was dedicated to getting Amy ready for her day at daycare.
The pre-planning definitely cut down on any stress that could've happened and made the mornings much more pleasant. I arrived at work at 7:30 a.m. each morning a very happy momma.
It wasn't totally easy leaving Amy at daycare, but since Diana has been at the same place for over two years now, I totally trust the people there. I know my girls are taken care of every day and will be happy all day.
And they were. When I called to check on Amy, she was happy, eating well and sleeping in her crib. When I picked her up in the afternoon, she was smiling and happy.
She even has her own "happy place" as we discovered after the first day on Monday - they have swings. She sat in that thing wrapped up in her fluffy blanket and fell right asleep. She did so well that I sent Matt to Target Monday night to go get a swing. Though we still haven't put it together (I didn't say that nights were easy) I know that Amy's going to be swinging away in the living room in no time.
Nights this week were another story. I was not naive to the fact that my needs for the rest of my life will come third to Diana and Amy's. But the craziness of mornings, work, picking the girls up, coming home and fixing dinner, feeding Amy, doing bathtime and bedtime and cleaning up around the house leave me in my work clothes until about 7:30 or 8. That's a long time. I fell asleep on the chair downstairs twice this week before 9 p.m. I know that once I start working out and not neglecting my treadmill anymore I will have more energy so I can't wait for that day.
Diana's teacher did make an observation on Tuesday that made me laugh. She asked me if I was glad to be back at work and I said, "Yes, I really like my job." She said, "You just seem so much more energized now!" It may sound bad written here, but she meant it as a compliment.
It's very rewarding to be a working mother. I feel a huge sense of pride knowing that I am being such a great role model for my girls and doing something so important to contribute to my household. I hated being on bed rest for three weeks. I really felt like I couldn't contribute to my family's well being during that time and to be able to be back to a normal routine is wonderful!

General Mills is the devil

Who does General Mills (you know, the cereal company) think they are fooling? They try to tell us parents that by eating Lucky Charms, Cinnamon Toast Crunch and their other line of sugary cereals that my kid will be getting a ton of fiber and Vitamin D. Well, they fail to mention the high amounts of sugar in all those cereals. It infuriates me!
Cheerios and Kix are the only cereals my kid eats and she's getting plenty of healthy intake. We give her Special K with strawberries every now and then and Miss D also likes the cereals that Fiber One makes so she's getting all the good taste and fiber she needs.
General Mills isn't going to suck me into their sugary trap!

So close, yet so far away

Amy has been sleeping in her crib at night for about a week now. She does pretty well and even if she wakes up and fusses, we stumble across the hallway, give her Soothie and she falls back asleep. I have only had to pick her up and snuggle with her twice in the last week.
The first night she was in there, I think I checked on her five times during the night. And last night, she slept from 12:30 a.m. till her next feeding at 5 a.m. I woke up a couple times during the night and didn't hear a peep from her on the monitor and nearly freaked out.
But Matt and I have taken back our room! No more tip-toeing around the room avoiding the creaky spots on the floor, no more brushing our teeth in another bathroom in the house. I don't have to worry about Amy waking up because Matt is snoring. :)
It's kinda weird though when I peep in on Amy and she's all swaddled, just her little head popping out of the blanket. We also have two blankets on top of her so all you see is a little teeny tiny head lying on this huge mattress.
Then I go next door and check on Miss D and there she is in her big ole bed snoring away. My girls, though four years apart, are getting older every day!

Halloween 2009

This may have been the best Halloween yet. I was very excited when our neighbors, Heather, Clint and their kids Kezia, 2 1/2, and Keegan, 2 weeks, accepted our offer to come over for pizza and trick or treating. They usually go to their church and participate in the festival there, but opted out this year because of the H1N1 scare. With a new baby, I can understand their fears.
Our Halloween actually started with the construction of Diana's costume. Aunt Debbie got the ball rolling by making the dress and ears but I had to put the finishing touches on:


Next, we spent Halloween Eve at Diana's school at the Fall Festival. It made for a late night, but it's something we like to do. Diana made a cookie and participated in some games the teachers had set up:


Halloween was so much fun! The day started out with the Borchert girls traveling up the road to Dixon to visit the Daggetts as they moved into their new home. Of course, Diana had to wear her costume and trick or treat at their house.


And Amy even had a good time at the Daggetts!


Diana was a big help to me as we made all kinds of goodies in preparation for our Halloween party!


Once Matt got home from the Solano football game, we all carved pumpkins!


Diana drew a face on Amy's:



We had a great time trick or treating in our neighborhood and it looked as though Heather and Clint weren't the only ones with fears of festivals. Our neighborhood was packed with kids and families - in years past, our neighborhood has been like a ghost town on Halloween...very scary!
And, as is tradition, the Borcherts got dressed up. Contrary to popular belief, I did not lose a bet and have to wear the ridiculously oversized costume....it was chosen for me by Diana. I was actually quite popular in the neighborhood and became somewhat of a celebrity. Gramma V even offered to buy the costume off me so she could wear it to school next Halloween. Gramma V, you can have it!


Diana scored big time on the candy, even though she only got to keep one bag of M&Ms.


I personally think that Diana was the cutest Minnie Mouse ever...thanks to Aunt Debbie!



And of course, our newest little pumpkin did quite well despite sleeping through most of Halloween!

Cool Patch

Though just six days before Halloween, we finally made it out to Cool Patch Pumpkin Patch on Sunday. We called the family at 10 minutes to nine and said we would be leaving at 9:30 and everyone made it there by 10...thanks to my entire family for understanding that the Borcherts work at the last minute these days!
It was really windy so Amy rode in the Snugli the whole time - hence the lack of Amy pictures in this post. I am thankful though that Au Bob and Grandpa D got some pictures of Amy riding in the Snugli so that 20 years from now we don't have this conversation:

Amy: Mom, why aren't there any pictures of ME and my first trip to Cool Patch?
Me: It was really windy that day, Amy and you rode in the Snugli the whole time.
Amy: But Diana was screaming her lungs out in the pictures of her first trip to Cool Patch, why?
Me: Because it was really windy that day.
Amy: Um, and there are no pictures of me because....
Me: We didn't want you to be as miserable as Diana!

So, again, thanks to Au Bob and Grandpa D for hopefully helping me avoid the above conversation someday.

Diana tackling Matt in the Corn Bath, her favorite thing at Cool Patch:



Diana driving with Gramma V:



Diana running through the mini-maze:

Milestones

There are a few major milestones in the first four years of a child's life - walking, talking, getting potty trained, the first day of preschool/daycare. Though every day is a new adventure in a toddler's life and thus very rewarding for parents, the big ones are the ones that stand out and leave lasting impressions.
Over the last couple weeks, reading has been this major accomplishment in Miss D's life. Tonight, she finished the last book in the first group of her "I Can Read" series that Gramma V bought her. She breezed right through it.
When I was playing basketball growing up, my mom always said that she was proud for me--not proud of me. She explained to me that I should be proud of myself and that she was excited for me. I tried to understand this theory for the longest time and it never sunk in until this week. I am so proud for Diana because reading is such a huge accomplishment and she's done it with such ease. It's come so natural for her. I am excited for her because of all the fun that comes with reading. Her imagination is going to grow, she's going to learn about new places and things and really start to expand her vocabulary.
On Friday, Matt took Miss D to McDonald's for breakfast before school and there was a sign in the restaurant. Matt asked Diana to read it and she instantly said "Wet Floor." It was great!
I have probably been blogging a lot about the adventures in reading of Miss D, but to me, this is one of the biggest accomplishments of her young life so far!

November 16

For the past three and a half months, it's been my choice whether or not I want to take a shower in the morning. I could skip breakfast if I wanted to because I was either too busy or just didn't need to have anything. The couch started out as my BFF then turned into my worst enemy. The same can be said for our chair. I have learned that many women I know are stay-at-home moms and I am very jealous of them. But I know that I can't join their company because I have to work.
So...on November 16, I will return to the workforce. I officially gave that date to my boss and the HR department the other day. I am looking forward to being around adults every day because I miss all the people I work with. I really love my job and look forward to writing stories about all the wonderful people who work at our company. (I can say "our" company because I own stock).
It's gonna be real hard to be away from Amy and put her in daycare because Diana wasn't in daycare until she was almost 2 1/2 years old and I loved the time we spent together in the mornings before work.
I will try not to think about someone else feeding Amy, putting her down for a nap, reading to her and cuddling with her. As long as I can provide for my family financially that's the most important thing. And since I am going to be getting out of the house and into a normal routine, that will keep me a little more mentally healthy and energized for the end of the day and weekends with my family.
So, the countdown to November 16 begins. I will take advantage of every moment I have left in this house during the day and appreciate every moment I have with Miss Amy in the day time.

Pillowcase Hair

Diana has naturally wavy hair (she got that from Matt)and I have played with it every now and then on a special occasion - curling it with a curling iron or trying to straighten it with my straightener. But Miss D doesn't like to stand still and I am always afraid that I am going to burn her. She loves the look of her hair after it's curled or straightened (what princess wouldn't?).
My awesome hairdresser, Kim, suggested that I try pillowcase curls. She explained what it was and I was sure that I wouldn't be able to do it. A couple weeks later, I looked it up on the internet and was positive that I couldn't do it. It was worth the try though and I told Diana that it was a "Hair craft" and she got all excited.
So, pillowcase hair requires the parent to cut up an old pillowcase into strips and tie them into the child's hair. I put some mousse into D's nearly dried hair after bathtime and the "hair craft" began.
Here are the before pics right before Diana went to bed. Oh, pillowcase hair requires the pillowcase strips to stay in overnight to assure maximum curlage.



It's actually very simple. I used the instructions found here. Some of the strips fell out at night, but it's no big deal. I plan to get some more practice both on myself and Diana. She didn't complain about the pillowcase strips in her hair at night. She was mostly bummed when they fell out.



I forgot to take an after picture. Mostly because Diana woke up at 6 a.m. on Saturday morning and asked me to take them out because she wanted to see the curls. It was a little too early for me (yes, even me) to operate the camera. Trust me though, the hair was extremely curly. It was like I had used an extremely small curling iron on it. I had no idea that this hair craft would work as well as it did. I saved all the pillowcase strips and will definitely do this again!

Book Worm

It's a good thing we own a lot of books. Diana is going through a phase now where she just can't be read to enough. You know how you are supposed to read to your child at least 15 minutes a day? Well, I surpass that by about an hour. I know that's probably going to change when I go back to work (although I am going to do everything in my power to make sure it doesn't change), but right now, I can't read to Diana enough.
This is a good thing for Amy too because while it's hard to read to a baby that's asleep most of the day, when I read to Diana, I am holding Amy most of the time so Amy hears the words.
Diana gets home from school and wants to be read to. She especially likes her Miss Spider and Her Sunny Patch Friends books right now. There are 25 of them and they came in a big box. I think Aunt Barbara got them for D a couple years ago. Well, turns out, there is a cartoon on television so I have been recording it for Diana in the morning and she watches it in the afternoon when she gets home. In addition to reading the Miss Spider books, she is working her way through the Now I'm Reading books that Gramma V got her. She is on book 4 or 5 now. I lost count. We go back and review the previous books to keep all the words fresh in her memory and I can't believe how well she does even though she hasn't read one in a couple weeks. I think she's a reader now.
Tonight, I read one of her Disney Princess stories to her and saw so many words that she knows. She can probably read that whole story to me now. When we are driving, I find myself looking for signs that have words on them that she is familiar with.
We have read to Diana since she was a baby and it's truly paid off now! It's such a great accomplishment for all of us!
BY the way, I mentioned to Diana's doctor that she was very close to reading and he thought that was great. I told him that we are prepping her for Stanford so I hope this means good things. He pointed out that many Nobel Prize winners come from schools other than Ivy League schools or Stanford. Whatever. I'm not trying to win her a Nobel Prize, I just want her to go to Stanford!

It's that time of year

Diana, Amy and I attended our first fall festival of the season on Saturday - the art, wine and chocoloate festival in Suisun. I really enjoy this one because one of my favorite local bands - Inner Soul - was playing and it's right on the waterfront. We packed a picnic, a blanket and had a really good time. Diana got to play in one of the jumphouses, tried some Russian chocolate (I have the wrapper, Dad, remind me to have you translate) and even purchased some jewelry (a plastic pink bracelet).
We have a lot of festivals planned in the area in the coming months and I am really looking forward to taking the girls out on the weekend and enjoying some of the culture that our area has to offer.
Here are some pictures of Diana at the Suisun festival:

"This is so much fun, Mommy!"

Movin' On Up

About 10 years ago, my dad bought my sister and me this cool alarm clock from Sharper Image for Christmas. It's a CD player and also has soothing sounds and a radio. You can wake up to any of them and you can unplug it and take it with you anywhere. It's pretty neat. And the fact that I have had it for 10 years speaks volumes about the quality of product that Sharper Image offers...even though I am pretty sure they are out of business now.
Amy and I moved upstairs yesterday. Yes, I said, "and I." It's been too hot for her to sleep upstairs in our room so I have been sleeping downstairs with her for the past month and a half. The temperature in Vacaville has gone down quite a bit which is great because my body aches and I was glad to get somewhat of a good night's sleep last night. We put Amy down at around 8 p.m. and though I felt horrible, I went back downstairs to have some husband time with Matt. Not long after she was down, she started fussing and then crying. I went up to see if she was OK and she had escaped her swaddle. I re-swaddled her, gave her the Soothie and glanced over at my nightstand. I pushed "Soothing Sounds" (which plays ocean waves) on my alarm clock and it took all of two minutes for the little one to fall right asleep. We kept it on for another couple hours before she ate but will definitely use it again. The white noise was very helpful in getting her to sleep.
Hat's off to Grandpa D for that one!

Swaddling back on

Amy is being swaddled again. As I was doing a massive cleaning of the house yesterday (both upstairs and down) she woke up from her nap after only 30 minutes, but then napped perfectly on me for two hours during 90210. Well, not that I mind cuddling with my favorite little 2-month old, but this can't become a habit. Diana took naps on me all the time when she was a baby and I never, and I mean never, got anything done around the house.
Matt fed Amy last night and she was still wide awake. We took turns getting her back to sleep and when she finally closed her eyes, I put her back in her bassinette and after 30 minutes, she woke up screaming. Well, she was up all day playing with me so I thought for sure she would sleep well during the night. Matt walked her around the house and put her back down in the bassinette...30 minutes later, more screaming. Forget it, I said. So, I swaddled the little one, rocked her on the Boppy a little and put her to bed. Four hours later, she woke up. This morning, she's still sleeping and even cooing a little in her sleep. Thank goodness! Who was that crazy mom that said swaddling was overrated?