First Day of School

So today was the first day of school for my girls.  Which wouldn't normally mean much at a year-round day care, but today Emma moved up to the Rainbow Room.  Which means that the next room is pre-K.  Which means that before I know it, she will be leaving for college.  So maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration, but this morning it definitely felt that way.  All of the radio stations were talking about back to school and how fast kids grow up.  Which just made me more sappy.  All I needed was for Emma to ask me why I was sad.  I am not sure what she would have thought had I told her that soon she was going to leave me and she wouldn't need me anymore.  :)  OK.  Overly melodramatic moment is over.  Here is a quick pic of the girls on their first day.  Hopefully I got a better one on my camera and I will post it soon.

Plumb sings a song that expresses my feelings perfectly.  The first time I heard it was not long after Emma was born and it has been one of my favorites ever since.  I think I have listened to it at least 4 times today.  Who wouldn't want to always keep their children close and protect them from all the bad things in the world?

"In My Arms"

Your baby blues

So full of wonder

Your curly cues

Your contagious smile

And as i watch

You start to grow up

All I can do is hold you tight

Knowing clouds will rage in

Storms will race in

But you will be safe in my arms

Rains will pour down

Waves will crash all around

But you will be safe in my arms

Story books are full of fairy tales

Of kings and queens and the bluest skies

My heart is torn just in knowing

You'll someday see the truth from lies

Knowing clouds will rage in

Storms will race in

But you will be safe in my arms

Rains will pour down

Waves will crash all around

But you will be safe in my arms

Castles they might crumble

Dreams may not come true

But you are never all alone

Because I will always

Always love you

Clouds will rage in

Storms will race in

But you will be safe in my arms

Rains will pour down

Waves will crash all around

But you will be safe in my arms

An update from Olivia at 9 months

... I don't know why this post just showed up, we wrote it on Feb 3, 2011...

So I know that Olivia will be 10 months old tomorrow, but she has been wanting to post this all month,  so I am going to let her. I am passing the keyboard over to her now...

Hello everyone! I am 9 months old now and growing like a weed - a cute and adorable weed - but definitely as fast as a weed.  I had my 9 month well baby check up and everything looks good. I weighed 19 lbs 4 oz and am 28 1/2 inches tall.  I have come a long ways from when I was born and weighed 6 lbs 12 oz and was 19.4 inches tall.  Mama is getting close to the point of not being able to carry me in my car seat.  I don't know what they are going to do about that.  I am saying Mama and Dada now.  I do a lot of cooing and talking, but no one seems to understand what I am saying.  I think Emma does some of the time because she talks back to me in my own language

I started crawling on New Year's Day, so Mom and Dad can't keep up with me now.  They have their work cut out for them because they have gotten a little relaxed on keeping everything baby safe.  I am finding lots of things on the floor that are very exciting and of course they have to go straight into my mouth so that I can check them out.  Who knew that chewing on scraps of paper could be so much fun?

Just this week I figured out how to stand up by myself.  I have to hold onto something, but I like the view from up here. There is a whole new world of things to get into now that I can reach higher.  I can't wait to see what I can get my hands on.  My diet is now quickly expanding.  This week I have tried English Peas, Avocados, and Mum Mums.  I love feeding myself, so anything that it is easy to pick up is great fun.  I have also discovered that I love banana muffins, so I need to encourage Emma to make me some more.  She is a great big sister.  She likes to bring me toys and make sure that I am happy.  She has been trying to take some of my new toys this week and we need to put a stop to that.  Mama takes away one of her toys when she takes one of mine that I am playing with, but that doesn't seem to have solved the problem yet.  Emma better watch out because I think it is about time for me to start taking her toys.  The world is my oyster now that I am mobile and Emma has many pearls that I need to get my hands (and mouth) on!

I am definitely one of the happiest babies around.  It doesn't take much to make me smile and laugh.  Actually, it takes quite a lot to make me stop smiling.  There are just so many things to be happy about that I can't help myself.  Mama says that I am the happiest baby she is ever seen so I am sure that is the truth.  She has a very objective perspective.

Behind the Times

Since my blog still has a Christmas background, I think it is only fitting that I finally share some of Olivia's newborn pictures and my maternity pictures.  Olivia is 6 weeks old in the newborn pictures and I was 36 weeks pregnant in the maternity pictures.  Just one short week before Olivia was born!

 I uploaded more pictures to my Picasa web album, so check those out.

All I Want for Christmas...

Last week we went to the Gingerbread Bash at the Children's Museum.  It was such a fun night and the girls really enjoyed themselves.  At the end of the evening, the girls had their picture taken with Santa.  I didn't hear what Olivia asked for, but I think I know.  On Sunday afternoon, I noticed that Olivia had gotten her two front lower teeth!  I had just checked the day before, so I know that they came in after her time with Santa.  She must have asked for them in her very sweet way to receive them so quickly!

Here are some of Olivia's school pictures.  She is 6 1/2 months old in them.  Her teacher told me that Olivia smiled and laughed through the whole thing.  She is the happiest baby I have ever seen!

Something I Never Thought I would Do

A few weeks ago, as I picked up Emma from school, her teacher told me that she had just gone potty because she had a lot of water that afternoon.  Emma had been potty-trained for a while, so I didn't worry too much about it.  As we headed to the car, I asked her if she needed to go again and she said she didn't.  We made the drive to Pearland to pick Olivia up from daycare in about 30 minutes.  I asked Emma before we went to Olivia's room if she needed to go and she said no again.  We got Olivia's things together, and as soon as I got her buckled in her car seat Emma said that she needed to go potty.  We went to the restroom that is closest to the front of the school but had to wait because someone was already in there.  Emma started bouncing around saying she really needed to go, but by that time I thought it would be faster to wait than to walk to one of the other restrooms.  Little did I know how long the woman that was in there would take.  Emma kept telling me that it was urgent and I showed her how to cross her legs hoping that would help... but it didn't.  About 15 seconds before the woman opened the door, Emma started to whimper and I knew it was too late.  I still hurried into the restroom, but by that time her pants and shoes were soaked.  She sat on the potty and went some more so she really did have a lot of water in her.  I felt so bad that she had to put the wet clothes back on, pick up Olivia, and walk to the car.  We keep a bag with an extra set of Emma's clothes in the car, but naturally on this day I didn't have it.  So I stripped her down and buckled her into the car seat with just her shirt on...  Now onto the funny part of the story.

We had planned to meet Matt to eat out for dinner that night.  I was debating going home to get clean clothes for her or buying something for her to wear at Target since it is right next to the Chili's where we planned to eat.  When I called Matt, he said he was almost to Pearland, so I decided to wait for him in the Target parking lot and he could stay with the girls while I ran in to get something for Emma.  Now remember that Emma is naked from the waist down.  I unbuckle her so she can stand up in the back seat.  After a minute or two, she says that she needs to go potty.  I look through the car, but I don't even have a coat or blanket that I can wrap her in to take her into the store.  As I look back and forth from her to Olivia she says she really needs to go and I tell her to just wait for a few more minutes.  As I try to distract her, she tells me that "The pee pee is coming!"  I say just hold it and she starts bouncing and repeats, "I can't!  The pee pee is coming!"  So now what do I do?  Do I let her stand in the car and pee all over the back seat?  Not something that I want to clean up.  Do I try to get Olivia out of the car and get both girls into the restroom without exposing the fact that Emma doesn't have any clothes on?  That would take too long.  Or do I let Emma go in the Target parking lot?  I can't believe that I am even considering that.  Can I really let her do that???  When nothing brilliant comes to mind, I decide that is my only option.  I open my door and hers and set her on the ground between them.  Then I tell her to go.  She looks at me like I have gone crazy when I spread her legs and tell her to squat down a little bit.  Then she starts - and she pees a river.  As she keeps going and going, I am looking around hoping that no one walks by to see my shame.  How can I let my precious little girl do this?  As soon as she finishes, I quickly put her in the car and close our doors so that I can deny any part in the large puddle on the ground by our car.  Matt pulls up just about then and I run into the store to buy Emma a cute little dress because I feel so bad about what I just made her do.  We get her dressed and head to dinner. I am still in shock about what just happened, and Emma is happy to be in her new dress and forgotten the events that led to her getting the new dress.

So I learned a good lesson: there might come a time when you are forced to do something that you had previously thought was impossible.  And survive the event with nothing to show for it but a new dress.  :)

It's Started Already ~or~ Matt's in Trouble

Here is a conversation that Emma and I had as we drove in to work/school yesterday morning...

Emma: sniffing because of a runny nose

Me: Emma, do you need a tissue?

Emma: No... I need money.

Me: Silent while trying to determine if she really asked for money.

Emma: Mommy, do you have any money?

Now I am just trying to determine what she wanted the money for. Did she want to pick up a few more books at the school's book fair? Or did she want to do some shopping at Rice Village on her lunch break? Maybe one of her friends has a better lunch than her and she was thinking about trying to buy it? Or could there there be an underground poker club at her school?

On the way home yesterday she did say she wanted to go to the store. I asked her what she wanted to buy and she said eggs and coffee cream. But isn't that what every two year old wants to buy? I think she says that she wants to go to the store or out to eat almost every day. She is already turning into a social butterfly like her mommy and is happy to just be going anywhere. It is so cute when she says, "I want to go out to eat. I don't want to eat at home." or "I want to go to the store." in her cute little voice.

When we were on our way to my family reunion in July, one of our many potty stops (we had just started potty training Emma) was at a Buc-ee's type gas station so it had some random stuff for sale inside. As we were leaving, Emma was looking at all of the wonderful things at her eye level and she looked at me and said "I want to shop Mommy." When I told her that we needed to get back on the road her response was, "But I want to buy something." This is terribly cute at two, but I wonder if it will have the same effect when she is sixteen. Guess we will have to wait to find out.

Wait up guys!

We have been raising our Emma and now Olivia to be little world travelers. So far, we haven't made it farther than Hawaii, but they are experts when it comes to West Texas and the Texas Panhandle. At 6 months old, Olivia has already flown to Midland and Lubbock and she can't wait to go somewhere even more exciting than Hawaii so Emma can't rub that in anymore. Last weekend we flew to Lubbock for the baby showers of our precious baby girl niece that is due to arrive in November. (On a side note, we can't wait for the newest Thompson to get here!) We have learned that it is a bit more of a challenge to fly with two girls, two car seats, and all the items that are required to care for and entertain the same two girls. Thankfully, Emma, as always, is a big helper. She has decided that she can roll one of the suitcases all by herself. And I am not talking about a child-size suitcase - she has to roll one of our suitcases - all by herself. As we were going from baggage claim to our car, she took off with one of the bags that probably weighs almost as much as she does. Every little bit, she would stop to change hands and say "Wait up guys!" It was so cute. If we dared to ask if she needed help, she would get that independent look in her eyes and tell us "I got it!" Most of the time, it is so cute to see this self-reliant streak in her. Sometimes it drives me up the wall because she won't do what I need her to do. Or it makes me sad because she is growing up so fast. Either way, it is so amazing to see her grow into her own personality. I just wish it would go a little slower. Have you have seen the commercial with the dad talking to the little girl in the driver seat of the car about being a safe driver? Then they show the girl again and she is a teenager that is about to go for a drive by herself. I am not even sure what the commercial is for, but I feel like that is going to be me. Right now, 16 seems like it is forever away, but I also know that Emma will be 3 years old next month and it feels like yesterday that she was a newborn baby cuddled in my arms. And Olivia is not slowing down either - it doesn't seem possible that she is 6 months and 1 day old. I don't see any way to slow them down, so if you have any tips, let me know. :)