Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Marin's 3rd Birthday Party!

Since Marin loved her trip to the circus so much this fall, we thought it only fitting that she have a circus birthday party! She invited all of her friends and their families to join her under the big top, and we packed in the fun all afternoon long!

It wasn't a health conscious party by a long shot, because what good circus is? Add birthday cake, cupcakes and a candy bar into the mix and you can imagine that Marin, who isn't even normally allowed to drink juice because of the sugar content, was bouncing off the walls by the end of the night. Plus, her cousins and her friends and a little birthday magic made for one happy girl. She slept like a champ that night and was in fine form the next day, so no harm no foul.

We hired a clown to come and make balloon animals and do face painting for the kids. This was a huge hit. She really wasn't creepy acting. And she was great with the kids. Even the neighbor kids who were once afraid of clowns loved her. Except poor Kai. He told me after the fact, "That clown scare me." So sorry Kai!!

We cleared out all of the toys from the playroom downstairs and made a carnival in the basement. We asked one of our favorite babysitters and her friend to come and run the carnival games, and the kids had a blast. I wanted every child to go home with a fish, as you do at a real carnival, but Jason drew the line at that one. Probably a good idea. We'd have ended up with 32 fish to take care of at the end of the day.

I had a lot of fun setting this party up, and Marin loved it. She had such a great time with her friends and family. She is still talking about it. In fact, we drove by a TGI Fridays the other day and Marin pointed out the red and white striped awnings by yelling out, "Look!!! That store has a circus tent on it!" She loved having all of her friends here, and for days afterward she recited every friend that was at her party for anyone who inquired.

I love that Marin loves a party as much as I do. She bopped from one friend to the next, and rarely came up for air. I think I only saw her a two times the entire party. This will be fun until she's 16 and the cops are at my front door. And apparently Emilie has inherited the love of a party too, because she just smiled the day away as she was passed from grandparent to aunt to any willing arms. But now, what you've been waiting for, Jake. Pictures galore.

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Marin at 3!


Marin:
At three years old you...
... want to be a doctor and a mommy when you grow up
... know all of your letters and numbers and shapes and colors.
... like to point out that K is for Katy, L is for Lindsay, E is for Emilie and M is for Marin and O is for Ostrich. In all books.
... can count to 23... and then skip to 30, 40.
... know how to spell your name.
... love dressing like a princess and dancing around the house. You ask for music and watch your reflection in the big window in the family room, while you dance.
... call a seat belt a "belt seat"
... don't always like to wear pants.
... jump up and down when Daddy gets home.
... say your favorite meals are "basketi" (spaghetti) and mac and cheese
... have many stuffed animals, though your favorite is pinkie and you have 17 dolls named Emilie.
... sleep with a minimum of six "guys" every night. They are: pinkie, newbie, raffie, booboo, lambie and crabbie. And usually two or three more that you carry in with you on the way.
... are very generous and love to give hugs to all of your friends
... often announce, "This is the best family ever!"
... often tell each us that we are the best by throwing your arms around us and saying, "Mommy/Daddy/Emilie/Norries, you the best!!"
... say, "Know what?!" and " I have an idea!" Or, "That's a great idea!" or "Shoot. I 'got about'__." Which means "forgot about".
... are potty trained but wear a diaper to bed.
... like to be "nice and cozy". You love to snuggle with blankies.
... love to go to grandma and grandpa's.
... have a kind and generous heart. When Norah had her surgery you offered her your favorite blanket so she would be comfortable.
... say "may I please" and thank you with out hesitation or needing to be asked.
... say the prayer every night
... sing along in church- the alleluia is your favorite
... LOVE music and dancing
... love to sing and perform. You sing twinkle twinkle little star by sining, "twinkle little star, how i wonder what you are. up so high. like a dream up in the sky. twinkle little star, how i wonder what you are." and you sing Ba ba blacksheep by singing, "Ba ba blacksheep, have you any more..."
... like to do "sack of tatters" with daddy, which is when he throws you over his shoulder and says, "sack of tatters!" You do this to your dollies, too.
... ask to be excused from the table and thank whomever prepared the meal.
... negotiate everything
... nap for an hour and a half each day
... like to play "night games" which are games we play mostly on weekend nights. Your favorites are old maid, go fish, candyland, and matching games. And actually, you are really good.
... carry around a hard cover copy of Anne of Green Gables from your bookshelf, though you call it your "special fancy tea set book" because it has pictures of tea sets all over the cover
... love reading books. Sometimes you read to Emilie in your room. You close the door and say that it is school. We always read books before bed and no matter how many we read, you always ask for just one more.
... ask for "moon and stars" when you go to sleep. This is a projector that projects rotating moons and starts on the ceiling. You also listen to music from the same machine to fall asleep, as you have all of your life. You listen to "twinkle, twinkle little star" on repeat for a half hour, which is what we have the sleep timer set to. You used to call this mookicks, then muse-kicks and now you just call it music. We're glad you know the correct pronunciation, but it was admittedly adorable the other ways.
... ask to have your friends over to play downstairs (the playroom) with you.
... like to snack on "pirate booty" (pirate's booty) and "red sticks" (fruit leathers).
... proudly announce "I'm growing up!"
... dislike sticky hands
... like Greek yogurt unstirred for "bress-kiss" (breakfast).
... when you stir something you say you are "cooking it".
... know Daddy works in "cah-jo" (Chicago).
... get to watch an hour of TV a day (tops), and like watching "Lil' Steinsteins" (Little Einsteins), "George" (Curious George) and Mickey Mouse on TV. You say that Mikey Mouse is your "favorite show in the world."
... also like watching "'Livia" (Olivia) and "Princess Show" (Princesses) and "Toy Tories" (Toy Story) on DVD.
... ask to watch "a little news". You would watch the entire Today show if I let you.
... sometimes like to watch Ellen with me and we call it "the dancing show" because Ellen dances.
... call Emilie "'Lil Sweetheart" and "Sister Emilie". We're sure people think you are addressing a nun.
... order for yourself at restaurants and love to stand in line and pay for your own milk at starbucks. (with mommy's money, of course) :)
... chocolate milk is your favorite treat
... call the horizons milkboxes that you take in your lunchbox "school milk"
... love to make a new friend. Whenever we see someone your age, you address them as "friend" and aren't shy to talk to them at all. You tell them you are "Marin Jane Pa-erson" and that you are "free" (holding up three fingers) and that your sister's name is Emilie!
... know the first names of all your family members (ie- Mommy's name is Johanna, but daddy calls her Jo)
... like to wear your sunglasses whenever there is a tiny bit of sun.
... say you love us "to the sun and the moon!"

You are a smart little cookie and a firecracker for sure. You are also super loveable and sweet, but boy do you stick to your guns. What a joy you are, Miss Marin Jane!

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Three

Three years ago today my life changed. Three years ago today I discovered a kind of love I never knew existed; the kind of love I didn't even know was possible. Three years ago today, we met our beautiful baby girl, and I became a mother.

It was a Sunday. I'll probably never forget this because Jason was so excited that everyone got free parking at the hospital. The night before, five days before my due date, Jason made us a nice dinner after which we sat down to watch Pineapple Express. About four minutes into what I found to be the world's stupidest movie, I said aloud, "I hope that I don't go into labor now, because then this dumb movie is going to be in our lives stories forever." Sure enough, about an hour later, after witnessing Seth Rogen toke his billionth dubbie, I felt a contraction that hurt and was very different from the rest that I'd felt. Jason packed his bag, and suggested we go to bed to try to get some sleep. Both of which I doubted were necessary- after all, who has their first baby early?- but we did anyway. Neither of us slept a minute. The contractions continued, and we timed them and read the books and when it all matched up like they said it would, we read the books again and timed them again just to be sure. At about 6am we called the doctor on call and she confirmed that we should in fact come in. So we both took showers, tidied up the house, called my parents, threw a few last minute things in the bag, washed the dog, took some pictures, and then went to the hospital. We called Molly on the way, and she was so excited that she and Bri took a cab from Wicker Park all the way to Evanston. I'll never forget that. She was the first to arrive and she stayed all day. My parents were next, then Lindsay, and Jake and Katy, and Jason's dad and Aunt Vee and Uncle Bob. Everyone stayed all day keeping me company, playing games and wagering bets on whether "the baby" was a boy or a girl.

I pushed for a hour, Jason and I were laughing and cracking the jokes the whole time. Jason was incredible. There was a SNL skit that year that was a satirical spin on McGiver called McGrover. Jason kept singing "McGrover" and we were cracking up. My doctor arrived at the very last minute to deliver Marin in his street clothes, and at 9:14pm, Marin was born. Jason turned to me and said, "It's a girl!!" I will never ever forget the immediate pride in his voice at that moment. Doctor Miller asked if she had a name, and Jason replied, "This is Marin Jane." I held her immediately and was awestruck by her teeny tiny wonderful features and fell head over heals in love with every single wrinkle right down to her fingernails. I held her close to me and promised her aloud to be the very best mom that I could be.

After Marin was weighed and measured and cleaned off, Jason went to the waiting room to announce that she was here! Shortly there after everyone came into the room to meet her, and we passed her around and snuggled her and introduced her to the most important people in her world. My mom immediately started planning shopping trips and outings to the American Girl store. Jason started calculating the costs of proms and her wedding. :) We all stayed there for a long time all together, admiring our little miracle, giving her all the love in the world. It was the best day in my life to that point.

Somehow three years have passed and today that little baby is a bundle of energy who literally dances everywhere she goes with a spring in her every step. Marin loves being a big sister and entertaining her friends. She is a happy little sweetheart who loves big and has a bit of a dramatic streak. Can't imagine where she gets the from.

My due date with Marin was February 12th. During my pregnancy with her, everyone would comment on how it might be a Valentine's Day baby. We honestly never thought of Marin as a Valentine, but she is definitely our little sweetheart.

It has been an incredible three years. Becoming a mother has been my world's most amazing, most challenging, most rewarding journey yet. Three years has gone so quickly. In three more years she'll be SIX! But today I'm not thinking about that. Today I'm taking the day to just hug and love and okay spoil just a little, my amazing little three year old miracle, Marin Jane.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Emilie is Crawling!

Emilie has been doing a lot of army crawling, but yesterday while we were all playing in the basement I looked over at Emilie and she was crawling across the (icky, cold, concrete) basement floor like she had done it all her life. It's a funny crawl- more on her forearms than hands, but her stomach is off the ground and she can really move!

Marin got really excited about it and grabbed her play camera to take a video of it too. Like mother like daughter. She kept telling her, "Good job 'lil sweetheart!"

Break out the baby gates and the running shoes. There are two babies and dog loose in our house!

Monday, January 23, 2012

What I want my girls to always know

I realized the other night as I was feeding Emilie and literally whispering sweet nothings in her ear as I rocked her, as I do most nights, that if something were to happen to me tomorrow, my girls would have no memory of me at all. I can nearly recount, in detail, every minute of their sweet little lives, and yet if I died tomorrow they wouldn't as much as recall the sound of my voice, despite them having to hear it more than they probably wish on some days.

I know it's morbid, and I have no plans for that to happen; that's why just before the tears fell, I pushed the thought out of my head and went on to blissfully sing to my baby girl as she cooed back at me. But then this morning after a gigglefest with Marin and a sweet moment with both of my girls around the breakfast table, (where Marin told me, "These eggs are extra good, Mommy!"), I dropped Marin off at school and decided to go to a little coffee shop by our house with Emilie. And as she was sitting like a big girl in the highchair beside me, slapping the the table with her open hand, and proudly spouting out da-da-da-da-da and ah-ah-ah to me as if we were two old girlfriends catching up, the thought hit me again. This time, hard enough to make me actually cry big alligator tears right in the middle of the coffee shop.

I couldn't help but think, if something happens to me, will they ever really know how totally and completely crazy ga-ga I am over them? Will they ever know how lucky I feel to be their mom? Will they ever understand how much I love that I get to be home with them every day? Will they ever learn that the fork goes on the left and that the knife and the spoon (in that order) go on the right? Jason could fill an entire lifetime of stories about how much I loved them, but let's face it- he's never going to teach them how to set a table.

If you've been reading a long time, you may remember that right before Marin was a year old, I wrote her this list of things I think every girls should know. Emilie, ditto. But I'd like to add a few more personal things. So girls, here goes. Listen up.

If something were to happen to me tomorrow, I want you both to know...

- That being your mom is the single greatest joy in my life.
- That I love you in amounts you will never understand except maybe possibly when you have your own children. And yes, this includes those moments when you have thrown yourself on the floor kicking and screaming because you don't want to wear pants.
- That I love your Daddy very much. And that he makes me laugh as much as he makes you laugh. And that I think he's fun and smart and handsome and adventourous, and yes, sometimes stinky.
- That even though I may never let you know it, putting your arms around me and telling me you love me can get you out of any time out, no matter what you've done.
- That I notice you caring for your friends and it makes me extremely proud.
- That I love listening to you talk to yourself as you play and imagine.
- That I love to dress you up and comb your hair.
- That you can do anything in the world that you want to as long as you put your mind to it and believe in yourself. I believe in you and I am proud of you. (and I'd want you to know that I've whispered this to each of you before you go to sleep each night for nearly your whole lives.)
- That I don't consider anything that I do with you or for you a chore.
- That I love to celebrate you. On your birthdays or on a Tuesday.
- That even thought it may not always seem like it, I am never to busy for you.
- That nothing is more important than either of you.
- That I love to read to you.
- That when you learn something new, every fiber of my being beams with pride.
- That the days that you were born, and the moment I first laid eyes on each of you were the very happiest moments in my life.
- That your smiles make my heart skip a beat.
- That the sound of your laughter is better than the music of the finest symphony in the world.
- That nothing makes me happier than when you snuggle with me. Even if it means I have to watch some ridiculous kids show.
- That you are beautiful, precious little girls with giant hearts and beautiful manners. And I hope that the world never tarnishes that for you.
- That many times I can not get enough of you- so much so- that I want to eat your cheeks and kiss your face a thousand times.
- That I am always thinking about you. Whether it's things to do together, or ways to work on your development, or strategies to parent you the best that I can. I want the very best for you every single day.
- That Daddy and I never go to bed without checking on you each first and kissing you goodnight one more time before the day is done.
- That you make me happy over and over and over again every single day.

I'm not planning on going anywhere. And hopefully we're reading this together someday after your own children are having babies and you're wheeling me in to meet them. But just in case we don't get that chance, now you know- that never were there two beings on this planet, more special to me than you.

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Emilie- Eight Months Old!

Eight Month Stats:
17 lbs. 7 oz.

It's no surprise that this month flew by as quickly as the others. What has been really fun is that this really was the month of Emilie! She has really changed and (for lack of a better word) blossomed this past month. She is really developing more and more of her little personality every day, and so far it is completely joyous and fun, and sunrise to sunset chock full of smiles!

* Emilie is doing a lot of army crawling. Although she gets up on all fours, she doesn't do much of her moving that way. She is beginning to try to pull herself up, which means that soon we will be lowing the crib mattress- a true sign that there is no longer a tiny baby in the house (sigh). Although Emilie does move her feet to "walk" a little when you hold her hands, she definitely doesn't seem in a hurry to walk.

* Emilie is doing a lot of "talking". She says da-da and ba-ba. Ba-ba her first "word", and da-da came very shortly after. She says da-da a lot. It seems as though she has full conversations with herself and I just love to listen to her! It is the very sweetest sound.

* Emilie is still completely enamored by her sister. I think I have said before that watching the two of them interact together is the greatest joy in my life. This remains true, and is only getting better. Emilie is reacting much more to Marin now, versus just Marin reacting to Emilie. Emilie just completely lights up around her sister. Marin is starting to play more with Emilie and I'll catch her asking Emilie sweetly, "Emilie, may I please play with your little Minnie?" and then, "Mommy, Emilie said I may borrow this!" Whatever Marin does, Emilie wants to do too.

* Emilie is holding her bottle. She holds one hand on the side, and the other at the end of the bottle. It's a pretty good idea, and it cracks me up.

* Emilie really knows her name well and responds well to it when you call her name. In fact, she turns and smiles when you call her name. And she loves the camera!

* Emilie is really laughing now. It's not really a squeal, but she is really giggling, and remains the happiest baby on the planet. Recently she went sledding with her sister (just down a little hill) and I could hear her laughing from the top of the hill. Emilie kicks her legs whenever she is excited about something. And she can really get those puppies moving!

* Food still isn't a priority for Emilie. She will eat solid food, but she's not thrilled about it, and she's pretty picky. As I did with Marin, I am making her food. Emilie is very particular about the consistency of her food. If it's not just right she won't eat it. I always keep some Earth's Best baby food on hand just in case I'd run out, and she gobbles that stuff up right way. She even leans forward for more. Here I am, making her food and packaging it all away and then she's lunging for the stuff in the jar.

* I think she's teething, but like her sister at this age, not the slightest sign of a tooth. She chews on anything and everything in sight, however.

* Emilie had her first antibiotic this past month, for an ear infection after a cold. Poor baby. She seems to be fine now though, and we'll go for an ear re-check next week.

* Emilie loves reading books with us. She loves to reach for the pages and flip up the flip books or feel the fuzzy pages. She loves to snuggle with her soft animals and she still loves her Sophie giraffe.

Emilie is an absolute joy all the time. She hardly ever cries and is extremely laid back. She totally goes with our (sometimes crazy) flow and smiles at people along the way. I love watching her become a little person. It goes without saying that we love her like crazy.

Friday, January 13, 2012

RIP White Fish Emilie

Well, our remaining white fish, Emilie, was either unhappy with her conditions on the counter of our second floor bathroom, or she had just watched Finding Nemo where she learned that all drains lead to the ocean; because sadly, she took her life early Thursday morning.

Jason found her laying in the sink next to her bowl early on Thursday. She was last seen alive Wednesday night swimming in her bowl just a foot away.

When Marin woke up I gave her the news that White Fish Emilie had died. She stuck her lip out and said, "Mommy, now I just have no fish left in my bowl." I told her that White Fish Emilie was probably happy to be in heaven with Orange Fish Marin. She agreed and was over the entire issue about 30 seconds later.

Gotta love (almost) 3.