The Carnival Came to Town

I'm a little late in posting this as the carnival was actually in town last week, but such is life.  We had a nice little weekend and went to the carnival immediately after work on Friday.  We met Mark as he got off the train and started the fun.  There were lots of fun rides for Sawyer - she was actually the perfect age - though Isla was a bit young.  We bought a lot of tickets and Sawyer went on the merry go round, the giant slide, the motorcycles, the cars, the obstacle course, and the flying elephants.  The ONLY one she didn't go on, that she wanted to, was the kid roller coaster.  I actually steered her away from this b/c I think she's maybe a year away from truly enjoying it and I didn't want her to get scared.

Through all of these rides, she maintains quite a serious face...

We tried to put Isla on the merry go round and the cars.  Here's her reaction on the merry go round - she wouldn't sit on a horse, and as soon as this ride started kind of freaked out.  About two seconds after this Mark and I switched places and I did my best to prevent Isla from trying to jump off the ride.

We grabbed some carnival food, eating on the curb of the road.  Interestingly enough Isla likes to drop her food on the road, and then laugh, and pick it up and eat it.  I did my best to prevent this but at some point I really did just give this up.  She was also a super fan of the fresh squeezed lemonade we bought.  It came in a real big cup, and she did not like to share with any of us.

Perhaps the favorite ride was the motorcycles.  We went on these several times...

You'll notice that she continues to be super serious.

A close second, and a ride that we went on at least 3-4 times was the obstacle course.  I was a little worried that Sawyer was going to get "stuck" in there, but she did great.  She loved climbing the rope ladder, but did not like the swaying walkway.  It was a skinny walkway with nets on the side that moved as you were on it, and the first time through, Sawyer yelled at the other kids to "stop making it move".  She recovered quickly though and made it to the final big slide down.

Still very serious - I kept waiting for squeals of joy, but they never came until she got OFF a ride.  Sawyer ran into a few of her friends from school as well and rode the cars with her friend Cade a few times.  She was a little sad we only went once, but we went through all our tickets that first night as Sawyer and I stayed later than Mark and Isla and it didn't seem like a good idea to keep throwing more money away!

We instead hit up the pool again for swim lessons.  I just signed Sawyer up for another session of lessons because she's been enjoying them so much.  She'll be missing a few due to our family vacation but it's still worth it.  I think she may have to take a "test" tomorrow to see if she learned anything in the first session, which should be interesting to see.

I thought we'd head back to the pool Sunday but after waking up to a cloudy day, we basically stayed home and had a really relaxing, and much needed "down" day.  It still didn't prepare Mark and I for the busy-ness that has been this week, but that's the way things are for now.  I think that's why we're so excited for our vacation at the end of the month - three weeks from right now we'll be about landing in Baltimore!  Luckily we'lll have a bit of a reprieve as well with the 4th of July holiday.

Weekends are the Best

Master of the obvious with that title - I know. But I'm sitting here on my couch, after calling it an early day from work, with Isla watching an Elmo video in the playroom, and Sawyer lining up pens from my computer bag in the living room and it's peaceful here at the Harris house. Yes, perhaps I should be worried about Sawyer's weird OCD tendency to line things up, or my own since I seem to keep a lot of pens, but I'm choosing to just embrace the feeling of relaxation that has found me. Besides I've just managed to redirect her into using said pen to practice writing her letters.

We just got back from taking Isla to the doctor for her 18 month visit, albeit just a few days shy of her being 19 months. What can I say, May was a busy month. Our girl is growing just perfectly according to the doctor. She is 32.5 inches tall, the exact height Sawyer was at this age, though 23 lb and 4 oz, a full three pounds less than her sister was. Doesn't surprise me as people always comment on how she's quite a dainty, tiny thing. She's actually about 35% so not off the charts, but she's stayed on that path of being 75-90% for height and a lower weight %....kind of seems like she's rocking the gene pool to me.

At any rate, we're sitting around relaxing waiting for Mark to get home so we can head to the carnival. It's in town for the weekend, and a really good size so we'll head over and eat dinner there, ride some rides, and play some games...the three things I promised Sawyer we could do. She has indicated she would like to go on the slide again (despite being terrified last year), the merry go round, the ferris wheel, and the cars. She also wants to play a game and win a toy like her friend Joey did last year. She doesn't know what she wants to eat, the girl just loves to eat out and so if you ever ask Sawyer if she wants to go out to eat, she'll say yes. I can't lie though, I'm super excited to go myself. I really think they are going to be quite funny to watch and it just feels like a real summer-y thing to do right now.

We don't have a lot planned for this weekend. We're headed to the pool tomorrow for more swim lessons and fun in the water. I took the girls this week while Mark was away and Isla totally flipped out because she felt she could swim on her own. She would let go and push me away thinking she could float. Finally, I got her to the side kicking and screaming, and holding onto the side of the pool.  She was happy when I wasn't holding on to her, and shimmied her way along the side about 30 ft.  Girl just wants to do it all herself.  Since the pool is our only scheduled activity, we may end up back at the carnival tomorrow or Sunday too...we'll see how tonight goes.

Nothing much to report from this past week - Mark went away, the girls hung out.  I found I was pretty productive with my housework while he was gone which was good, but not too pleased by the extra kid I had in bed with me on 2 of the nights - Sawyer woke up at 3am twice and came in to join me.  Plus, Isla got up at 5:30am on 2 mornings, so I was/am a bit tired to say the least.  I have two cute pics from last weekend I'll share - we made a tent in our family room with some blankets.  Sawyer got into it far more than Isla, who kind of sat on the edge not quite sure of the whole experience.  I think it was a little too dark under there, so perhaps next time we'll try different blankets.

Peeking out...

 Loving it...

Where to Begin

Well for starters, this is the third time I'm writing this post.  I have not been able to get this thing to save for the life of me.  Hence the delay in posting.

But that seems to be all fixed, so back to life.  It's been a long two weeks since the last post.  For starters, about 12 hours after the last one I came down with the same bug as Isla and it kicked by butt.  I woke up on Monday and immediately started throwing up.  There was not a thing left in me, and nothing could go in.  Luckily, Mark was staying home that day as we were meeting with someone in the afternoon and helped me out with the girls.  I nearly fainted in the shower - I thought I gracefully sat down in the shower when I got dizzy but apparently not because he heard a loud noise and came up to investigate, and then proceeded to help me out of the shower - so good thing he was home.  It wasn't the worst timing - though I had a really important meeting the next day that I was worried about.  I managed to feel a bit better by evening, prepare for my meeting, and made it in for it.  I left shortly after, and to be honest the rest of the week was a blur of waiting for the weekend to catch up on some rest.

The weekend itself was pretty good, not great.  Isla is a challenge these days for sure.  At 18 months, the girl is a handful with very strong opinions.  For some reason she went through like 2 weeks of just not sleeping well at all, which made us need the weekend all the more!  She was up around 5am every day.  And when she gets up she wants to go downstairs, get some milk, get a banana, and watch elmo...but not on the tv, on a little mini dvd player.  She needs to go in her playroom and sit on her chair.  The good thing about this, is I usually tried to get more sleep on the couch while she did this, but she presses buttons as well, so every few minutes yells to mom for help.

Showing you how happy she is watching videos....

 But it's not too long before she goes into the zone...

I have since figured out that I think she needs to wear heavy jammies to stay warm and she'll sleep longer.  We were starting to dress her in summer jammies, but with the A/C and her skinny physique she actually preferred to wear the heavy flannels with feet.

Sawyer went to her first swim lesson last weekend, and she loved it.  She was very nervous at first, and Mark had to get in with her, but he managed to slip out after a few and when it was all over she ran over and told us she was scared at first, but then she had fun.  They had her kicking, and using her arms, and playing silly games to get her to go underwater.  I wouldn't say she's on her way to being Michael Phelps but she's gotten more comfortable in the water, and will go underwater without goggles or holding her nose which is good.  I also think it's good someone who's not her parent is teaching her - she listens way better.  I'm considering signing her up for the next session even though she'd only make 3 of the 5 lessons...that or maybe some private lessons just to keep her going in the right direction.

The pool has turned out to be great for us.  We've used it quite a bit and while we don't go for extensive periods of time, it's only 5 minutes away and keeps us outside.  Isla is a bit young - next year she'll be perfect for it - but she enjoys it as well.  The hardest part with her is keeping her entertained.  She moves from one pool to the other and back again and so I find myself just following her around for 2-3 hours while Mark and Sawyer play.  She does love to swim too though.  She actually seems more of a natural than Sawyer.  She puts her face in voluntarily and when you "swim" with her she puts herself in a superman position with legs and hands out straight.  Yesterday she fell in the baby pool in the deeper section, which goes from 6 inches to 1.5 ft.  I was a few steps away and she just kind of floated there until i got there to pull her up.  I was impressed because for the few seconds she was under she seemed to hold her breath.  She was a little scared of being under, but wasn't coughing up water or anything.

Anyway, since I've written this post several times, I've noticed it changes each time.  One thing I'll show you is Sawyer's art project from school.  One of her teachers does all sorts of fun projects with them, and this was over the course of a week - making masks.

We have the monkey...

The cat...

And the dog...

But she likes to know if I'm looking at her, so I always catch her peaking...

Not a whole lot else to report.  We took the girls to the mall one night to get out and learned that they both love soft pretzels.  We knew Sawyer did, but Isla gobbled them up as well.  Isla also hugs nearly every mannequin she sees.  We were shopping for some clothes for Mark and so she kept hugging all these male mannequin legs.  It was really funny to watch.  It was also a ridiculously stressful shopping trip.  Sawyer took off and decided to hide from us.  If I didn't see her the one time we never would have found her, b/c she would curl up under clothes against the wall totally out of sight.  Such a little shit.  Isla then got into the action and started just running away from me.  In the meantime, I'm trying to help Mark find some shirts.  I finally left the store with them to go to the playzone - all the while carrying Isla in such a way to prevent her from hitting, biting, or pulling my hair.  She's a scrappy little fighter when you try to make her do something she doesn't want.  Needless to say, they were happy when we got to the playzone.  How Isla didn't get killed is beyond me as there were some crazy older kids running around but she held her own and seemed to love running the circle up into the tree house and down the slide and around again.  Sawyer was a good sister and was watching out for her - usually waiting at the entrance to the slide till she caught up and they could go down together.

Daddy and his girls..

Yes that is suntan lotion on his chin.  Isla loves to hold the lotion bottles and will put lotion on everyone's face.  It's often annoying but I figure I shouldn't discourage her from putting it on ever.  I've managed to keep that skin milky white despite spending several hours in the sun on the weekends - no tan lines yet!  Sawyer's arms and legs are getting a little tanner.  She seems to have a different complexion where she'll get a little natural color.

We didn't do much to celebrate Father's Day - the girls made him the cutest gifts at daycare.  Sawyer has a card that says she loves her dad because he watches movies with her and takes her to get slurpees, and had a bookmark strip of pictures they took of her.  It so perfectly captures her personality and expressions that I need to figure out if I can scan it.  I know Mark loved it as well.  Isla's present was two hand prints that say Isla loves her daddy, and then you open it and find they're connected and the paper says "this much".  It's totally cute, and both girls gave their dad some good hugs this weekend.  Sawyer likes to tell us it's daddy day. 

Mark is travelling this week so we won't see him till Thursday night which is probably the best present - he could use a few days of just peace, despite probably being busy at work.  We've got a lot going on this week.  As I re-write this, our old deck is being pulled out.  It turns out we have a possum living underneath it burrowed into an old stone step...sorry sir, but you're getting the boot.  We will have a new multi-level patio and backyard landscaping 90% completed by week's end.  Also this week, the carnival comes to our town and Isla will be FINALLY getting her 18 month check-up at the doctor's.  I am looking forward to both of these - I think both will love the rides and atmosphere at the carnival.  Sawyer is older and I think will be less scared, and Isla seems to take her cue from Sawyer so happy times (fingers crossed) here we come.  And...I want to know how big my girl has gotten.  She seems to be tall and skinny to me so curious to hear if the doctor agrees.  I have shorts that are 12 months, 18 months, and 24 months that Isla can wear - hand-me-downs from her sister.  Funnily enough none of them fit her.  The length is fine on all of them, but the waist needs to be rolled down no matter what the size because they fall down her when she stands up. 

Got a few good pics from this weekend I'll post later.  Before I do that, I need to research on the blog when I made Sawyer give up her binky.  Isla is HIGHLY attached to hers, and while we're getting better at only letting her have it at nap/bedtime, or when she just wakes up, I'm worried I need to cut the cord on that sooner rather than later.

Summer Sickness

So when I got back from my work meetings I came home to a somewhat sick house.  Mark was fighting off a summer cold, and both girls were just kind of mucous-y...it's a word people.  Within about 24 hours they infected me, only I was hit far worse and developed bronchitis.  I have basically spent the last two weeks coughing...no, hacking up a lung.  I'm on the mend and just have a lesser lingering cough I'm waiting out. 

The good news is this meant there was nothing stopping us from our planned weekend activity - heading over to Michigan for Charlie and Ben's birthday party.  We've been talking about this for awhile because both girls love to see their cousins.  Sawyer especially because she likes playing with her cousin Charlie.  Plus, we hadn't seen Grandma and Grandpa in awhile and it was long overdue.  The bad news is that the camera died about 10 minutes after I brought it out, but we managed to snap a few good ones before then.

Isla's got blue eyes like her grandpa, and was showing off her climbing skills.

 Isla gets pretty shy around people, and tends to just hang with her mommy most of the time, but Sawyer crawled right up with Grandpa for some pictures.  She likes to tell us that Grandpa jokes with her.

Sawyer doesn't often stop and give me good smiles, but she was getting ready to leave in this picture.  She took about 5 minutes to warm up when we got to Ann & Ted's and then was basically non-stop until we left.  Literally, she cried when we told her it was time to go.  The only big rough spot was her continued terror of Murphy, the dog, but other than that she's recounted many good stories today for me....such as when Aunt Ann broke the pinata open and all the candy fell out, and getting to play with the balloons, and chasing Charlie in the yard....

Our trip wasn't all smiles though...Isla went down for a nap after lunch and after a good 2 hour nap woke up and was hanging outside with us...and then she started projectile vomiting.  Uh - yes.  I was covered in puke, she was covered in puke, and she wasn't done...she was like a faucet I couldn't turn off.  Now the me of several years ago would have totally lost it and probably tossed my cookies too, but honestly seeing a baby throw up is just the saddest thing ever because they're both scared and sick at the same time.  By the grace of god, I brought a change of clothes for her and myself so we actually weren't in too bad of shape...until she threw up again.  She ended up getting sick 4 times before we left - we had planned on going home that evening anyway - once more in the car, and then poor girl had nothing left and just dry heaved a bit till we were home.  Honestly so sad - I was running her forehead and stopped at one point.  She grabbed my shirt and pointed to her head to keep going.  Finally I think the exhaustion set in and she fell asleep, and didn't wake up when we carried her in to bed.  We had one more incident Sunday morning, but after a good 3+ hour nap she was feeling better and able to keep fluid and food down.  Hoping that's it and tomorrow she's totally good to go and back eating normal.  Our girl is far too small to be unable to eat, and I can't imagine what she lost over the last two days...clearly a lot of ice cream will need to be in her future. 

Not a whole let else for us.  We had a pretty relaxing day.  Sometimes our girl Sawyer talks too much for our taste, but then again I'd miss it if it wasn't there.  She was our errand girl today, accompanying me to the grocery store and Mark to get sneakers, and of course she narrates the whole experience and then recounts it all for the other person when we're reunited.  One cute story - Sawyer was singing along to the songs playing at the grocery store, which makes me laugh.  I don't know how she picks it all up so quickly but she has an ear for music. 

Memorial Day 2012

So it's clear I'm a little behind, and while I am not feeling like a great storyteller right now, I'm starting to worry I won't even remember what we've been up to.  And we had a pretty nice Memorial Day weekend, so I don't want to forget.  This was perhaps the first time we've stayed home for this holiday in many years.  In fact, our 7th anniversary was this weekend, and I think it may even be since before we were married that we didn't travel for this holiday.  It was a hard decision too because my cousin got married on Saturday in Rochester, and it would have been really nice to see the family and celebrate, but with just being away for work I didn't feel it was smart to leave Mark and the kids alone again so soon.

But I digress...I ended up taking off part of Friday and starting the weekend early because I was really in need of some downtime.  Of course I took myself to Target to prepare for all the fun we were planning to have that weekend.  Isla wound up with a new bike - a sweet little tricycle that has a push handle for Mark or I to avoid the bending over.  They also got a little golf set for the yard, and some cool stuff for the pool.

To start the weekend off right, I also picked the ladies up early from daycare and we busted out some of our new toys in the backyard while I put together Isla's trike.  The $3 I paid for this thing was well worth it because it kept them occupied for quite awhile.

Isla has even learned the word golf; she will sometimes go to our back door and say "golf" to tell me she wants to play...And we've had no incidents of crazy swinging, and hitting the other sister which is nice...

On Saturday I got up way early to head downtown to run the Soldier Field 10 mile race.  And no, you didn't misread that, I did sign up to run 10 miles, and despite only running up to 5 miles in my training did not back out.  I had signed up with a friend of mine and so met up with her and we finished!  While I will never claim to be a fast runner, we did finish in 1 hour 58  min, which I'm pretty proud of considering I ran 8 miles and then ran/walked the last 2.  It's a neat race in that you finish by running under the stadium through the player's entrance and then run out of the their tunnel and finish on the 50 yard line of Soldier Field which was quite cool.

I hurried home because Mark and the girls were waiting on me to head to the pool we joined for the summer.  So no rest for my weary muscles, we went and spent about 2-3 hours at the pool.  I'm so happy we joined.  Most importantly, Sawyer and Isla LOVED it.  They enjoyed playing in the water so much and alternated from the baby pool to the big pool all day.  Mark and I also enjoyed ourselves - it was in the 90s and so the water was perfect in the heat.  Sawyer is going to take swim lessons on Saturdays and Mark has signed himself up for Men's Tennis on Monday's and I'm hoping we take advantage of the pool as much as possible in between.

Needless to say, after coming home and spending some more time outside, the entire family was pretty bushed.  If memory serves I passed out around 8:30pm for the night.

Sawyer playing with her clubs...

Sunday was another day back at the pool.  We were one of the first ones there right when it opened which I think is a schedule that works well for us.  We go and stay for 2-3 hours, bring a snack, but go home for lunch and naps...sometimes for me and Mark too!  It's amazing how much that 90 degree weather knocks it out of you.  While we were able to keep Isla and Sawyer from getting any burn, Mark did not lotion himself accordingly and ended up with quite a burn on his back, so we had to call timeout on the pool for Monday.  We ended up going shoe shopping for Isla and walking into town for lunch.  You'd think we'd learn that our kids are just not fun to dine with right now - at home or at a restaurant - but we are gluttons for punishment.  Someday...restaurants will be relaxing again!!!

Can't remember much more, only that it was relaxing, and I wish it was longer.  I'll leave you with a picture of Isla carrying her golf bag around.  It's on wheels and so she sometimes walks with it.  I missed the picture, but she also put her cup in it, and it sat on top as her cupholder while she walked.