smart!

After seeing this photo this morning Nora was pointing at it and saying, ¨Mommy, Mommy.¨ She is one smart cookie!

I couldn´t have said it better myself.

Below is an exert from a friends blog. I couldn´t have said it better myself! Nora was and is a belly sleeper...has been all of her life and she does indeed sleep with a crib that has bumpers. GASP. I think she slept on her back once...and it was awful. I think she ¨slept¨ for a total of two seconds. I flipped her over and she slept six hours straight. No questions asked. Yes, I´ve heard about SIDS and yes I know all of the information...BUT I think about all of the generations before us....how are any of us even alive today? Didn´t all babies sleep on their bellies w bumpers in their cribs? I know I did. ..and I´m still alive to tell about it!

I hate that we have to lie to each other to keep from being judged assuming that once we admit that "yes, our cribs have bumpers and no, we're not breastfeeding, and yes, our babies sleep on their bellies, andandandand and..." everyone will hate us and we will shrivel up and die.

So here's me admitting that no, I didn't breastfeed past the twins' first month of life and yes my babies sleep in their bumpered cribs on their bellies and yes, we're all okay. We're better than okay. We're thriving and happy and sleeping (mostly) through the night. And a lot of that has to do with breaking rules, forgoing statistics, ignoring advice, and doing what feels right in the moment. THIS moment right now this very second.

None of us are doing it "right". None of us are doing it "wrong". We're all just doing it. Good for us, I say. ALL of us. Parenting is an instinctual craft.

2 Years!

Dear Nora,

Today you turn two and it always sounds so cliché and I´ve said it a million times but...I can´t believe it!!!!!! It seems like there are less hours in the day and that the Universe is playing a terrible trick on me. Weren´t you JUST born??? I look at the pictures of your first day of life and they seem like yesterday. It was raining when we were in the hospital and I remember being up with you at 5am staring out the window, seeming like we were the only ones awake in the whole world, staring into your big brown eyes. Just me and my girl. My daughter. I was a mother. Thanks for that.

You are weighing in at 35 lbs! Holy hugeness. You always want me to carry you around which is great for the arms, not so much the back. You still sleep 11 hours at night and an 1.5 nap during the day.

Your speech has really taken off this past month which is fun to hear. The other day you came in with your daddy and said, ¨Mama, where are you?¨ You count to ten, but usually skip the number 4 and 7. You know the majority of your animals, we´re working on the colors (you´ve got orange though!) and you know circle and triangle thanks to Dora. I sing the Alphabet to you everday and you chime in on the ¨S¨ and the ¨X¨ every time. ha! You say, ¨Love you, Sorry, broken, kitchen, slippers, socks, orange, phone, book, clock, pillow, sofa, toy, jacket, backpack, bed,¨ and probably a whole lot more that I can´t remember at the moment! (Not to mention all your Spanish too!)

Most people think you are 3 or 4 because of your size...I mean, you do weigh 35 lbs!

You are such an observer and you like to have all your ducks in a row. You have to make sure everyone is taken care of at all times and accounted for too. It´s really cute and kind of OCD.Sorry. I might have given that to you...especially if you get dirty...ok, I definitely gave that to you!

You make me laugh all the time because you have ¨the look¨ that you give me. How can you be such a Diva at such a young age?

You love to dance, go to the park, music, COLORING, playing with your toys, watching Peppa, Dora, Pocoyo, Lil Bill, Wonder Pets and Elmo. (I don´t mind because you get more exposure to English this way!)

You are very sensitive and so sweet. You love to give kisses and when you are naughty and I put you in time out you say ¨SORRY MOMMY¨ and then want a hug and a kiss right away.

There are so many wonderful things that I could say about your Nora, but most of those things I will guard in my heart and keep them a secret just between the two of us.

Two years ago today you came into this world making our lives so much brighter. It seems to have meaning...a purpose. To strive to be the best mother I can be for you Miss Nora.

Love you to the moon and back. Happy Birthday Baby Girl!
Love, Mama

Epidural did you say?

Why yes please. 2 years ago today at about this time I was getting a gigantic needle stuck into my spine.......and I could barely feel it due to my soon to be bundle of joy.....

Still thank God for epidurals on a daily basis...ha!

"Heaven blew every trumpet and played every horn on the wonderful,marvelous night you were born."

HG

I love to read and lately I have been sucked into the Hunger Games trilogy.

I never read Harry Potter or Twilight or any of those and when a friend of mine was trying to describe the HG books to me I think I went cross-eyed at one point.

I happened to be scrolling through the books on Amazon and I thought I´d give it a try. I´m halfway through the second book and I can´t get enough.

It´s a must read! So, what are u waiting for?? Go buy it!

Big Girls Do Indeed Cry.

Ever since my daughter was born at a whopping 7.5 lbs and 21 inches long I have heard (no joke) at LEAST once a day how big she is.

I´m still surprised at how people react to her here, and quite honestly it´s made me feel like she´s a freak at times. Then I head to the USA in the summer and I don´t hear one. single. comment. for the whole summer.

We go to the park on a daily basis, and it´s true, I guess N is bigger than the other kids, but not like oger crazy girl big. She´s just tall.

Today we were at the toy store and the lady that worked there told me she thought N was four. And yesterday, at the park, N got up on the swing all by herself (for the first time) and I heard the other mother saying ¨She has to be at least 3.¨

According to Carter´s she is still in 24 month clothes (completely normal since she´s 24 mths old) and here she wears 3-4 year old. Don´t ask.

Ah Spain.

;)

Dear Nora, for the past 3 days you have told me you have to go poo poo in the morning and at night. You sit on the toilet,go and then wave bye bye to your poo! Ha! I really hope this continues!!!

happy hearts day!!!!

My husband got me donuts and jewels. Could I even ask for anything better?? We just danced in our pj's to our wedding song (from my ipod, I had the L ear and he the R) and I was looking at our engagement photo in the hall signed by all our wedding guests almost 5 years ago. Life can't go wrong when you marry your best friend:)

things that are annoying me right now:

Bad drivers who don´t even yield or slow down at cross walks. Hey Asshole. Thanks for making me slam on my brakes and then have the NERVE to give me a dirty look. His window was open so I just had a split second to decide what I was going to say. So many options. I just said ¨thanks¨ as sarcastically as I could. You know what he said? ¨You´re welcome, gorgeous.¨ Smoke came out of my ears. Raging.

Hard toilet paper and napkins. It´s ridiculous here. A napkin is like wax paper. How is that even helpful at all? If I´m trying to dry something off it just slides right down the napkin. Dumb.

My Peppa Pig decorations for Nora got cancelled and I don´t know why. I can´t find them here. Sweet. I have no clue what to do now.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Happy Birthday dad! You still look just as good as you did in the 70´s..maybe better!

karma

My tire broke on my bike today.

..

Having a toddler is tough. Then they give you those spontaneous hugs and "love you's" and all is well in the world again. Sigh.

That´s so funny.

I don´t know what it is but I have a thing about people tripping and or falling. I think it´s the funniest thing EVER! (Including myself) I remember tripping on the carpet in highschool and I said ¨watch that hole back there¨ and then almost wet my pants.

I vividly remember seeing a relatively serious movie and the guy in the movie slipped on the grass and fell. I laughed loudly for a good 10 minutes.

It´s sick really.

Today my friend and I were at Starbucks downtown and we saw a girl fall off her bike. I horrifyingly couldn´t help but laugh (she was ok). The kicker...as I´m looking at her lying on the ground the WHEEL of her bicycle rolls by. It had FALLEN off her bike too. OMG this was just too much for me to handle!!!!!!!! It made my day really...

Another funny moment of the day. You know that song ¨Where is thumbkin, where is thumbkin? Here I am. Here I am. How are you today sir? Very well I thank you. Run away. Run away.¨ You know the one.

Let me just set up the scene. I was on the see-saw with Nora and the little park that we go to faces the busy street. Basically her back was to traffic and I was facing it. So, I was thinking. When I did ¨Here is middle man, here is middle man...¨ It totally looked like I was giving my daughter the double finger. Hilarious!!!!!!

$

The economy is so bad and A has been w out a job for almost two years now! Pretty soon we will be living under a bridge with trolls and rats.

The prices of items keep going UP UP UP and our pocketbooks are sad and lonely.

I went shopping today. I´d just like to mention that tampons and condoms are really expensive.

I suppose if I stopped using the condoms I wouldn´t need to buy the tampons.....Good way to save some cash!

Times are tough!

brrrrrrrrrrrr

It´s freezing here! A cold front from Siberia has swept through leaving us all FROZEN and DYING. Ok, maybe just FREAKING COLD.

We had pretty much escaped winter until now...February. Go figure.

Nora refuses to leave the house w out her gloves and hat carefully placed and then she has to make sure ¨mami¨ and ¨papi´s¨ are on too.

Thank you Lord for a warm comfortable bed and warm food to eat! Hopefully it heats up soon!

....

Today was a terrible horrible no good day. It was a day that the stars were definitely not aligned and the toddler God´s were roaring there ugly heads towards moi.

I´ve decided I can´t take Nora anywhere. At least not during this ¨I¨m going to be an A hole kid¨ phase. (You know I´m kidding parents. Kind of.)

I eat breakfast at the same place every morning with Nora. (I feed her at home before we go). I feel like I´m prepared with coloring books and shiny new crayons, not to mention a stellar Elmo book and plenty of toys. None of these will suffice. Instead she feels the need to run around like a crazy lady and then ¨sit down¨ on the chair only to be on her knees and tip the wooden chair backwards onto the tile floor causing a deafening ¨BANG¨ and all eyes on moi.

I decided to then go to the bank because I needed to pay the light bill. There was a big billboard ¨man¨ and she kept kicking it and punching it. Awesome.

Then the supermarket. This was a whole new world of Toddler maniac ness.

Then she cried All. The. Way. Home. (walking) while everyone is staring at us. I´m holding four grocery bags with a screaming toddler in tow. I mean, she doesn´t just cry she WALES like someone is ripping her finger nails out one by one.

We enter the house...I´m crying at this point, she´s crying and it´s just a ridiculous wheepy mess. Defeat. Defeat as a mother. There are days when I don´t think I´m cut out for this. I don´t have the patience. Maybe she´s not happy? Maybe I´m not loving enough?

And then I remembered she´s turning two in two weeks.

They don´t call them ¨terrible two´s¨ for nothing.

p.s. I´d also like to mention that I do not understand the mothers who it seems theier days are filled with rainbows and butterflies. They must smoke something before getting out of bed in the morning....

Ok guy at starbucks. I don't need your hand gestures to explain to me the cup sizes. I've lived here for 7 years. I understand you, and I'm not an idiot!