The Burp Rag Chronicles

What a Week

This has been quite the week - my account being disabled by Facebook was just the start. I still don't know what I did or if I can get my account back or not. I miss it, I feel so out of the loop. :( Dang it, Facebook - get to my email and help me understand! Give me back my darn account! *scowls*

And now Spud is sick. With what, I don't know - last Friday she threw up, but then everything was fine. Then Tuesday she came home from school and took a nap which is VERY unlike her. When she got up, her temperature was 103! We've been able to successfully manage it with Tylenol and Motrin, but it'll go down for a while and after the medicine wears off, it's back up. She's acting fine, so I think it's just a wait-and-see.

But no one likes to see their baby sick. :(

So we've been laying low, yesterday we only went out briefly to get some more medicine for Spud and a quick drive-thru stop at Burger King for a special treat lunch. Which brings me to my next point: Spud cracks me RIGHT up.

We discuss the entire way what she wants from Burger King, chicken or cheeseburger. This is the same conversation we have every time we go to any sort of fast-food place. Today, she declared that she wanted sweet little Krabby Patties, and that ketchup AND mustard were okay because mustard is her favorite.

This is an out and out lie.

I keep trying her with mustard, because I suspect that, like ketchup, she will eventually like it. It's got a heavy vinegar base so... come on! What kid doesn't take a little coaxing with ketchup, then begin to put it on everything under the sun?

So I order her the Burger Shots (yep, that is what a "sweet little Krabby Patty" is!) with no special instructions, and we head home. Apparently they come with ketchup, mustard, AND pickles. I know she will freak out at the pickles, so those come off. Here goes, two little cheeseburgers head her way.

Hey! She's eating it! And enjoying it! I dice up some pears and give them to her as a side... chomp chomp chomp! Wheeee! Is this the turning point? Has my daughter made the final transformation into her father and has made mustard her new love?

Then, after all but about two kid-sized bites she declares to me, "Mommy, I decided that I do not like mustard. Can you take it off? It's too sour."

I laughed and told her to eat her pears.

So Miss Cameron is standing on her own for brief intervals! Most of the time she does it when she is distracted by something with her hands (a toy, the TV, her sister), but she is on her way, people!

Shudder.

Seahorse of Doom

Yesterday was J's company Christmas Party for the kiddos was at a local bowling alley. That gets the horns because I happen to LOVE bowling. I have my own ball, shoes, rolley bag, the works. J has the same. The fact that I kicked his butt the third game doesn't hurt. ;-)

So we get there, have some yummy pizza and salad (well, I had salad, anyway). Then the kids are informed that the Red Suit Man is here!! Wooooooo!!! Syd runs up the stairs to the landing where Santa is. I mean, the girl was mid-bite on a piece of pizza, but she has her priorities laid out.

He calls her name first! She hops on up and sits right on his lap, smiling away!

Someone else is called to come get their present. Then it's Cameron's turn. She is less enamored with Santa.

Syd received the Tag Reader book Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (which I think will be AWESOME at helping her read!)

And Cameron received a Fisher Price Seahorse that lights up and plays lullaby music.

So, in all my smartness, I thought, "Hey! The seahorse lights up! She loves playing with it! I think I will put it in her bed so she can play with it and have it light up, etc.!"

No. That child is so set in her ways that she cried for about an hour while we scrambled about trying to figure out what her deal was tonight. Did she poop?? Does her belly hurt?? She is cutting her fourth tooth, is it that????

Nope. As soon as I took the seahorse out of her bed, she laid in there quietly and fell asleep.

I think it will become a living room toy. ;-)

Dear Santa

Dear Santa,

Hi Santa! My name is Sydney, and this is my little sister, Cameron. I'm four, and she is ten! It'll be my five years birthday party soon! I live at... [snip]

Mommy said to tell you what I want for Christmas, and this year I want a cup. Or maybe a teddy bear. Or a new Wall-e and a book.

I've been a good girl, mostly. I love going to school and I really like showing Mommy my pictures when she picks me up. Best of all, we spend the last hour or so in the gym and I get to bounce on the trampoline. If I remember my socks I can bounce on the Sock Trampoline!

I help take care of my sister when I can, but I'm sorry about those times I tried to pick her up. She sure is heavy! But she does love to play with me and I like to play with her. I think she loves Peek-a-boo. She loves to eat crayons but I don't because I am a BIG sister!! Soon it will be my FIVE years birthday party!!

I think I have earned a present because I am awesome! I also help try to help my mommy and daddy by cleaning my room, eating my dinner without complaining, and picking up my toys. I do what I can to be the best four year old (almost FIVE!) I can be.

So Santa, please stop by my house and leave me lots of presents because I love them!

Love, the best almost five year old EVER,

Sydney

P.S. We left carrots out for the reindeer and cookies for you because we thought you might want a snack. I sort of ate one cookie, but Mommy said you would be okay with that. It was yummy!

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Dear Santa,

I would love some custom Guerilla Fluff diapers for my booty because that velour stuff isn't working for me, I like bamboo fleece inside. Bagshot Row Bamboo diapers are also cool - they have fun prints. I am not into those baby themed ones with cute little animals. Gimme funky zebra and cheetah any day of the week!

And, uh... more pureed pears would be good, I like those.

What have I done to earn these things? Come on! I've more than doubled my body weight in 10 months and grown three teeth! I cruise all over the place, AND I am really ultra cute.

I'm jus' sayin'.

Cameron

Pretend

When I go to work, the children have their usual scuffles and arguments - yesterday being no exception. See, if you didn't know, I work out of a friend's house with her detergent business (buy some! Keep us employed!) and she has two sons. Her older is a bit younger than Sydney, and her younger is a little older than Cameron. So... it's a house full of preschoolers.

Well, during the normal daily scuffles, the older two are in Older Son's bedroom, playing nicely - or so it seems. Then I hear a loud shriek, which is unmistakably Sydney. So I go to the bedroom and ask what happened.

"Older Son took the baby Wall-e's from me!!" she says through some mild sobbing and a few tears.

I look around the room. The floor, the bed, the kiddie table. No Wall-e's nearby. I turn back to Sydney.

"Uh, what Wall-e's?"

"No, Mom! Older Son took the BABY Wall-e's from me!!!"

Sydney has been in love with Wall-e since the very first time she saw it in the theater. We took her to see it for her first full-fledged Big Girl movie. Now, she fell asleep during it, but she really enjoyed it! She only slept for about a 30 minute segment in there, toward the end. We have Wall-e dolls that she treats like real baby dolls. We have Wall-e games, toys, clothes, coloring books and the like.

So she holds out her cupped, empty hands and says to me, "These Wall-e's, Mom!"

She is shrieking and crying about pretend toys.

So I reach into my pocket, grab a handful of Baby Wall-e's, and hand them over to her. Instantly, I was Super Mom.

Thank you, Miss Merchant*

There are days that I really, really need to remind myself to be thankful. Lately there seems so little to be thankful for, I really have to search for it. I do find some, eventually.

Cameron is a sweet, awesome little baby. She can be fickle and melt-down-in-a-second-and-without-warning, but overall she is a very smart and supa-cute baby. Sydney, also smart, is a very sweet and loving little girl.

I am sitting here tonight, kind of dreading tomorrow. We have a lot to do at work, and I have to leave early-ish to have a visit at the Skin Cancer Center to have a mole check. Oh fun! I just simply can not WAIT!

Love being Freckle Girl.

I guess on the bright side I do not spend a ton of time in the sun, I do wear sunscreen on the most vital of parts, especially since now I found one that doesn't seem to irritate my skin. I don't tan (even fake tan!), I don't smoke, I don'... well you get the idea.

So I am a little on edge about that. More than I should be, but... well, my luck hasn't exactly been all that stellar lately.

Wish me luck.

(*Natalie Merchant from 10,000 Maniacs. The lyrics are as follows:

These are the days
These are days you'll remember.
Never before and never since,
I promise, will the whole world be warm as this.
And as you feel it, you'll know it's true that you are blessed and lucky.
It's true that you are touched by something that will grow and bloom in you.

These are days you'll remember.
When May is rushing over you with desire to be part of the miracles you see in every hour. You'll know it's true that you are blessed and lucky.
It's true that you are touched by something that will grow and bloom in you.

These are days.
These are the days you might fill with laughter until you break.
These days you might feel a shaft of light make its way across your face.
And when you do you'll know how it was meant to be.
See the signs and know their meaning.
It's true, you'll know how it was meant to be.
Hear the signs and know they're speaking to you, to you.)

Hawk It

About a month ago, I purchased a Baby Hawk baby carrier. It was a gift to myself after working so hard - and also a sort of necessity.

See, Cameron has a hard time sleeping out of her element. It sucks, for sure, particularly since I am working and am often AT work during nap time. Given that she doesn't do well with no nap (Exhibit A: Last night driving home after work and crappy naps, she was inconsolable and pretty much just had to be held until she calmed herself down) I had borrowed Kim's Baby Hawk one day to hopefully get Cameron calmed down enough to finish up what I needed to do.

She fell asleep in the backpack carry. Lickety-split, too. I went home and browsed the website that night.

After taking a week to decide what fabrics to get (oh, the choices!!!) I opted for a black carrier with a zebra pattern on one side and a floral on the other. It took a loooooong three weeks to get it (they do make them from scratch for you! Though there are a few in-stock selections, too) but when I did, it was like the Heavens opened up and angels with trumpets came down.

Now, after having it a week or so, I have already gotten several compliments on it - people love to point and say, "That's cool/cute/awesome!" and "That baby looks so comfortable!" The other day someone stopped me in Babies R' Us while I was grabbing a few things - I had Cameron in the Hawk and Syd was holding the hand basket (at her request, of course) and asked where I got it. Turns out there are a few of us out there that enjoy the Punk Princess theme. *lol*

Anyway... I just wanted to spread the Baby Hawk love. It's easier, in my opinion, to tie than a Moby Wrap. Cameron seems to enjoy it more, and the straps are nice and padded like, well, a backpack.

So Cameron has learned to shake her head to say "no no no no." She doesn't use it in context, but I still thought I had a few years before she told me "no" about something.

And so the teenage years begin. It's either that or she just enjoys the feeling of her brain in the spin cycle.

Sydney has a fever right now that seems harmless, but we're laying low for a while because of it. It's been as high as 102.5 which Tylenol helps. But she doesn't have any other signs - she's not lethargic, she's not sleepy... she's eating a little finicky, but nothing outside of normal. So... I don't know.

My van... I feel like driving the thing off a cliff and saying someone stole it. It's been at two different shops for a total of two weeks, and no one knows what the deal is. One last place tomorrow before I just flip out and go postal. I swear I am just going to lose it.

And there I was getting used to the rental van that didn't die on me at stop lights and ran smoothly. I'd even trade the DVD player inside mine for that, I think.

Ocho

Cameron is officially EIGHT months old. I swear I must have multiple personalities that have me lose chunks of time, because I could have sworn she was born yesterday.

Let's see. At eight months, she is:

• Skipping that boring sitting and crawling thing and going right for pulling up on furniture, legs, large toys.
• Eats single-item solid foods (Stage 2) and enjoys finger foods such as Gerber Puffs. She also likes yogurt. Chicken, so far, is a no go. I think fruit in a mesh bag will be next.
• She is a loud and frequent babbler - she will give you the what-for if you will lend her your ear.
• She has roughly 3-4 bottles a day of formula, about 2 servings of jarred solids, and a couple handfuls of puffs or some sort of finger food.
• Likes to have a sippy cup of water while playing on the floor.
• Still does an Army Crawl, but is flippin' FAST at it.
• Sleeps about 12 hours at night (generally straight through) and has about 2 naps a day for about 2 hours each (give or take. I am really bad this time around about knowing this... I just kind of put her down when she is sleepy, and only wake her up if it's approaching dinner time).
• Is wearing 12-month clothes for the most part. Which pretty much sucks because Sydney was in 12 month clothing in the summer, so I have very little for Cameron to wear. *LOL*
• She got her second pair of shoes, which are 6-12 months. Her feet are tiny, so there has been no need for another pair of shoes. She is barely into them.
• She is still in her Medium diapers, mostly on the smallest snaps. Her thighs are starting to need the middle snap, though.
• She has two teeth, but I don't feel more on the horizon quite yet.

So there is Cameron's snapshot at eight months.

While we're here, let's recap Sydney as well.

At four years:

• She can say her alphabet, write the entire thing, count to a bazillion (alright, somewhere past 100), and can write double-digit numbers with just a little help.
• Can read simple books (I need to keep working with her on this... I've been a little lax lately. Though she does love playing with her Leapfrog Tag reader pen - it also helps those skills)
• LOVES to play games like hide and seek (which I absolutely hate) and Cariboo.
• Will instruct you on how to make chocolate milk, but with more exuberance than before.
• Can draw and color very well for her age. She is still kind of hit-and-miss with the right colors for things, but she stays inside lines pretty well. :)
• Is getting better with sharing and taking turns. Not terribly good at getting in line (at the end after her turn) but that is in progress and she is getting better.
• Is developing her imagination rather well. But everything is "in her dream." Like if she wants a piece of candy, she "had that in my dream."
• Is really doing well in gymnastics - she got to ring the bell this week at class! The kids get to ring the bell whenever they do something really well, and all the parents and teachers pause and clap for them. Most of the time we aren't sure who or why we are clapping, but the kids LOVE the attention. Sydney was doing exceptional on the balance beam, so she got a bell ring. :)
• She is also doing beautifully in Mom's Day Out (I knew she would). She really loves telling me about her day and what they did, and what she ate for lunch (even though I pack it in the morning. *lol*)

So, there are my girls! My beautiful girls.

Conversations with Sydney

Tonight, as always, I was getting Sydney ready for bed. I'd already bathed her, which went well, and was trying to get her in her pajamas, which she was resisting. Not actively, just messing around and not getting in her PJ's. Finally, I told her, in my Daddy Voice, "Sydney Elizabeth, get in your pajamas now."

"Okay, okay," she said. "You don't have to be so bossy!"

"I'm not bossy," I replied. "I'm the boss."

"No you're not," she informed me. "Cameron is."

Trying to stifle my laughter, I said, "Well, yes, metaphorically--"

"I even saw her bib that said The Boss on it," she said, cutting me off.

That was it. With one last plea for her to put her PJs on, I had to leave the room to laugh and tell her Mom about it.

Man, we have one seriously funny child!

In True Form

Here at Casa de Davis, we like to do things on our own terms. Mother Nature be damned, we're going to grow pumpkins so that they are ready to harvest in March. Forget the fall, people.

Yes, we have been training our black thumbs to be a little more green, and it's been a really fun journey, actually. Our most successful plant has been the pumpkin, which was purely accidental. We've been really good at getting the plants started, but they almost never survive the transfer to larger planters or outside. We must have the Fertile Window or something because we've been incredibly blessed at getting plant life started on that kitchen window.

The pumpkin sprouted within about three days of planting. And when I say sprouted, I mean burst out of the dirt like some one had been holding it down all its life. Within weeks it was getting far too large for the window sill and had to be moved outside.

I'll be honest, I was a little scared. I guess it's kind of like sending your kid off to school. You just kind of pray they get fresh water and make it out there in the cold, uncaring world.

But the darn thing survived. It even thrived out there. So much so that the watermelon that it was also planted with - the one I suspected would really take off - was kind of choked out. (I kid! It grows, but at a much, much slower rate than the Squash of Doom).

Today, this is what we found.

Now, we're unsure if non-pollination of the flower means no fruit... I'm not a horticulturist my ANY means. But pumpkin flowers only bloom for one day, and since it was terribly rainy today, I doubt the bees were out doing busy work. But, we might have gotten lucky. :-)

(Sydney is VERY eager to see it every day - fortunately for all of us the pumpkin seems to change relatively quickly so there is something to actually SEE it do.)

We also have a fruiting green bean in the kitchen. That guy probably needs to be moved, but it's got little bean pods and I can't possibly disturb it. It's adorable! But I have no idea how beans grow, when is the best time ti pick them, etc. Do they just continue to fruit throughout the year if you have it indoors? These are the questions I have.

* * * * *

Cameron is seven (yes, SEVEN) months old today. I'm getting older by the minute and yet I don't remember anything that happened. It's a very strange feeling waking up and wondering "How did I get here?"

In Month Seven, the biggest news is that she has sprouted two teeth, her two front bottom ones. And she uses them, too! Yikes. See them below? That's my finger she is gnawing on there, but I put up with it for the sake of science. Enjoy.

She is also Army Crawling like a monster - she's QUICK at it, too. It's kind of this Bear-Crawl-Turned-Lunge thing. But she can cross her bedroom in like four of that move. I suspect crawling isn't that far behind. She is also very close to sitting on her own. She will sit for a little if you sit her down on the floor, but eventually she gets nosy, turns, and then falls over. But she gets close to sitting when she is laying on the floor.

Foods... LOVES them all. She really loved green beans, which wasn't the reaction I was hoping for. Sydney loved food too, until we started beans. Cameron eats them all like she's had them all her life or something. She really loved green beans and peaches. Now that we're all out of peaches, tomorrow we start.... BANANAS. 

Which reminds me, I should get some of those mesh baggy things from Sassy. Syd had them and we adored them. GREAT for starting them on soft fruits like bananas and peaches. Or... avocado. Sydney used to LOVE that stuff!!

Sydney is totally stoked for her first gymnastic class on Saturday. She's been suffering allergies-turned-cold all week (you know, as 95% of Texas has been) so I've been keeping her home to try to get her on the mend. So far, so good.

So that is all that is going on in this neck of the woods.

The Difference

With your first child, we watch as the young parent sterilizes bottles every wash. Measures formula out exactly with each bottle. Never lets a bottle sit out for 30 minutes, let alone an hour. They change baby's diaper every hour, even if it's not been peed in. DON'T TOUCH THAT PACIFIER OH MY GOD IT'S TOUCHED THE FLOOR!! Baby naps at scheduled times, by golly. If they don't go down at 10:00 a.m.then the entire day is shot. Solid foods are given strictly, by the book, vegetables first in order from lightest to darkest to avoid allergies. Baby goes to bed promptly at 7:00 p.m. and has a bath nightly.

Second baby? Bottles go in the dishwasher mostly because it's less of a pain to do that than wash them. Formula is... well, it's measured close enough. Bottle sitting out? Well, it's not yet curdled, is it? Diaper changes happen when there is a break in daily life. Or a blow out. Whichever comes second. Paci on the floor? Well... Thirty Second Rule. Naps happen when there are no appointments, playgroups scheduled, or Lunch Dates with Daddy. Solids... whatever is on sale! Bedtime comes whenever baby rubs their eyes incessantly and complains at every movement they make. Bath? Well, she is smelling rather ripe, isn't she?

I suspect it just kind of get worse with subsequent kids, I'd need further input on that. ;-)

So, I've been job hunting. You'd think I am asking the world, but I just want an evening job so I don't have to put the girls in daycare. I'd like a job that doesn't totally suck, but really, that is optional.

In light of my birthday swiftly approaching, Jarrod asked me what I wanted for a gift. When did I become old? "I don't know, I really haven't thought about it." I honestly haven't. My mom bought me an iPhone as an early present. And then there is the obvious "lottery win" and "debt payoff" responses. I kind of want new gym shoes. My others are getting old, but maybe they just need a really good washing. Hardly seems "birthday present" worthy, ya know?

I am feeling kind of bah humbug about it, and I've never felt that way about my birthday. Usually it's a sort of 'everybody does what I want them to do" sort of day.

Pout.