Estimated Time of Departure

En route to Beals

Happy to be there- Maya's first time in the Leap Frog


Thursday morning we had to leave for Beals Island by 8 am. Last time we went we had to leave by 8 am (not a lot of wiggle room as I had a 10:15 client) and at 8 we were not yet in the car and Sandi was saying what a good job we had done getting out. I told her we needed to be driving out of the driveway at 8, not still making last minute bathroom runs and getting boots on, and that I meant the time literally since I had booked my client. I was reminded of a scene from "Everybody Loves Raymond" wherein the time of departure is A.I.S.- ass in the seat. We have reformulated the E.T.D (estimated time of departure) to be A.I.S. This morning we were driving out at 8 sharp. Pat on the back girls!




So rewind back to Monday when Sandi was getting the girls out to Ella's gymnastics class by herself (I was at work.) She had left plenty of wiggle room since Ella is notoriously stalling these days. I'll let her tell the story:

I was holding the infant seat with a screaming baby inside. The diaper bag was over my shoulder with food and drink items inside for everyone, changes of clothes, diapers, an extra bottle - all the needed supplies for a short outing. Last minute (I thought), I grabbed the baby bjorn just in case I needed to pace with Maya if she remained awake throughout the class. I had my water pitcher in hand which is a must at all times these days with milk production and all. Now I only needed the toddler that I was trying to get out the door in time so we "wouldn't miss this bubbles." Ella NEEDED to have her book to read on the way and her pocketbook for looks. Before we could leave the living room, she became determined that she must take the new calculater that pops up at the push of a button so that Brooke (her friend) could get in on the action. I placed that in the pocket of her purple plush jumpsuit. This was quite satisfying to my 3 year old. When I attempted to put her ponytail in, she demanded that we wait until we get there before her hair had to be pulled back, but in that moment she decided that she had to have her decorative ponytail holders. She ran for the bathroom and grabbed the pink transparent ponytail holder container, which is about 8 inches on all sides - not tiny, but smaller than a breadbox. Imagine a ponytail suitcase. Since I still had the infant carseat in my arm and the diaper bag over my shoulder, I attempted to open the pink box and retreive that which she desired with one hand. Failing miserably, and becoming short on the patience, I grabbed the now despised container with my free hand and proclaimed, "Fine. We'll take the whole thing." Almost to the door, I snatched up the nearest hat to place on Ella's head. What was I thinking? If she had ponytails, she must have her ponytail hat, not the silly hat that I had so thoughtlessly grabbed hold of. I said, "but Ella, you don't have any ponytails in." "I NEED MY PONYTAIL HAT!" I threw open the drawer, grabbed yet another hat and topped off my exploding diaper bag. We muscled our way out the door, I threw open the van door and chucked everything inside, including the 3 year old and the baby. As we pulled out of the driveway, my exasperation reached a new height. In all the commotion, I left my water pitcher on the cupboard. Sensing my now highly apparent frustration, Ella very nurturingly offered, "It's O.K. Mommy. It's hard with two kids."

Ella, the Sage

Suzanne: "Ella, do you need to poop?"
Ella: "No."
repeat this conversation x 3

10 minute delay

Suzanne: "Ella, you need to get ready for bed."
Ella: "Don't move me. I pooped."

Suzanne's internal process: I have given of myself all day long for 4 of the past 5 days- 13 hours each day. I am tired. I am ready for bedtime. I have done the dishes, the laundry, gotten dinner. I have packed to go to Beal's for an overnight tomorrow. I have worn Maya on me for the past 2 hours. I DO NOT want to clean up, smell or otherwise deal with poop.

We go in the bathroom, me trying not to lose my cool and saying things about how she's going to have to say goodbye to the My Little Pony panties. I do this mostly because I don't want to clean them but also as a small consequence for her decision to poop in her pants. I bag them up to throw in the trash.

Ella: (looking sadly down at her underwear) "Bye, bye, My Little Pony." Then a few beats later as I am cleaning her up, with a look of genuine regret, "I'm sorry Momma." It melts me. I don't know whether to feel guilty that she feels badly or happy that she notices how her behavior effects me. I settled on "thank you."

We go upstairs and there is an elaborate go around about the pajamas. She had set aside ones for tonight and chosen the ones to pack to take to Beals and now she tells me I have it wrong.

Ella: "Momma, I've already told you which ones. I don't want to be frustrated with you."

What are you gonna do with this? Apparently, this is one of the ones I say often. It is true - I guess both for her and for me.

Welcome Manharts!

The fun has come to town- specifically to Hampden in the form of Emilie, Sam, Sklyer and Reed Manhart. Our dear friends have moved into their house only 2 miles from us and we are thrilled! We've already tried out the "I'll be right over" thing. They bought a lovely cape with the charm and architectural surprises of an old house with all the modern conveniences a family of four needs.

Things have been operating so smoothly in our lives these days. We've been able to connect with lots of our friends and family with birthday parties, visits and sharing meals. What a blessed bunch we are. I truly sit in appreciation of all the wonderful people that surround us. This weekend, our friends Maria and Jeanine (a.k.a. the loyal commentors on this blog) came over and watched the girls for me on Saturday (Sandi was at work) and I drove up to the Manhart's former house in Old Town to score a bunch of free firewood they weren't able to use. Not only did I get free heat but I also drove up and back with Emilie and we NEVER get time like that alone with out our kids. Good to know, I like Emilie just as much, if not more, just as herself and without her "mom" hat on.

Ella had a rockin' good time with Maria and Jeanine (and thanks you both for the Easter purse- she has carried it all over town) and wants to know when her "friends" are going to come back. In the afternoon, Kris and Brevan came down to stay overnight and we went to Mindy and Charissa's so the kids could all play together -and play they did! We had such fun. And then yesterday, Ella and I made two giant batches of chocolate chip cookies and took them in to Sandi and her coworkers (I figure I'll bribe them with food and they'll treat her well, cover her so she can pump, maybe give her the easy patients since she is so sleep deprived- I guess there are no easy patients in the ICU). In the afternoon my mom came up and we had a great time as always. She is a big help and I really enjoy her company. I think I also love that she boosts me up and tells me what a good job I do.

I'll leave you with a funny one:

The other night I was rubbing Ella's leg as usual before bed (some people like there back scratched- she likes her calf rubbed.) I told her I was tired and could she please rub my leg. She thought that was funny and obliged. "Momma," she asks. "Why do you have fur on your legs?"

Back to Form

The quarantine is over. Life is back to normal. Well, as normal as it can be when 1,000 feet of snow fall outside your door, followed by 2,000 feet of rain. At least it looks like I won't have to snowblow.

Maya has started to laugh. Oh, my goodness. It is what I imagine it sounds like when an angel gets her wings. We all find ourselves acting in the most assanine manner to try to get her to do it. We are a sight to behold for sure.

Ella notices, and comments, on everything these days. There is no pulling the hypothetical wool over her eyes. Yesterday, Sandi and I went out to look at real estate properties to invest in and we had Olivia babysit for Ella. I told Ella the day before. "It'll be fun," I told her. "No," she said. "It will be fun for you."

I was putting her to bed last night and she suddenly exclaimed, "Oh, no! I forgot to finish putting the computer together!" (Sandi was downstairs working on setting up the new computer.)

And, perhaps my favorite: Ella was on the toilet and, suffice it to say she needed a few minutes, so I went into the kitchen. Sandi called me into the living room and I said to her, "I told Ella I would come right back into the bathroom." Which I did. Then Ella says to me, "Mommy asked you to go to her but you come to me first." Oh, great- I think we have a diva on our hands.

Ella made me some pretend Lemonade Chocolate Peanut Butter soup today. Look out for this one folks. I think when it hits the market it will be HUGE.

The Stomach Flu

Sandi worked last Tuesday and Wednesday and then we were off to Beals Island for a quick two days for me to see my ever loyal and wonderful massage clients. This meant we left early Thursday and were due to leave by 2:30 Friday so Sandi could re-group and be ready for her work weekend of Saturday/Sunday. Best laid plans...



On Wednesday, Sandi hurt her back at work and several of her spinal muscles were working in concert against her in a rather constant state of spasm. She was finding it hard to maneuver Maya in feedings, burping, and general care. Maya was extremely fussy, feverish, and overall in an unhappy state. I worked all day Thursday and felt truly great. That night, I helped Sandi with Maya's night feeding since she couldn't really get around and noticed my stomach was a bit upset. By 8 a.m. I was throwing up and I had to spend the day in bed (which, I admit, was somewhat nice although my body felt like I had been in a boxing match and I wanted to throw up). We began to wonder if this stomach upset was what was up with Maya. I cancelled all my clients and we decided to stay another night (Sandi called in to work.)



That night, Sandi's sister Kristi started throwing up, Ella started throwing up and our nephew Brevan (who is closing in on two) started to throw up. Luckily when it hit Ella that night, I was completly over it (or maybe maternal instinct took over) and I took care of her as she vomited every half hour for about 10:30 until 3 a.m. I have never hurt for her as much as I did that night (I guess I should consider myself lucky.) The next morning Sandi was throwing up. By late Saturday, six of the nine people in the house had been throwing up (including poor Maya) and two others had diarreha. So far, after taking care of EVERYONE and having every grandchild throw up on her, Patti has managed to make it through with just a lot of sleeplessness.



So we managed to pack up last night and come home even though Sandi was feeling less than optimal as we were expecting a huge snowstorm last night (still haven't really seen it as of noon Sunday). We got both girls to bed by 8 - Maya in her co-sleeper and Ella snuggled between us. Sandi and I were asleep by 9 . Oh, to be home and on the mend. Maya's sickness had made her unable to stay asleep for any length of time so when she made it to 12:30 were were happy. Except that the other thing that woke us up at 12:30 a.m. was Ella throwing up all over our bed. Yep, we had both girls up for a complete bed change, feeding, settling, the works. As soon as I changed the bed, and lined it for Ella in case there was a repeat, Mochy and Ella were fast asleep in minutes. Maya, not so much.



Without expounding on the details (sufice it to say Sandi and I tried EVERYTHING), Maya was awake from 12:30 am. to 6 am. Finally, I got her to sleep on me while I lay like a
Cirque du Soliel contortionist on the downstairs recliner from 6 until 8 when Ella woke up. All I can say is thank goodness for the DVR player taping reruns of Sex and the City which I watched probably 4 of while I tried to settle Maya.





So here we are, tired, tired, tired and all about to hop in bed for what (fingers crossed) will hopefully be a family nap. Maya can't breath through her nose at all and has a terrible cough now. The Doctor says it is probably the same strain of virus just hittting all her systems. She hasn't slept more than 6 or 7 hours in the past 24. Please send all your positivity our way! We could use it! And... this is a nasty, catchy bugger so protect yourselves! Don't leave your houses, don't shake hands with small children, don't eat the crusts off their sandwiches and, whatever you do, if you hear "stomach flu" run the other way!

If only...

I seem to spend a lot of time writing about Ella and food but certain things must be documented. Yesterday, we all went grocery shopping and Ella, hawk ears that she is, happened to hear me ask Sandi if she wanted some chocolate soy ice cream (she can't eat dairy still because Maya can't digest it in the breast milk.) Ella piped up that she wanted some. It was 11 am and I had already put aside the obligatory, complimentary cookie from the bakery department in my purse (yes, I carry cookies in my purse) for after lunch. We told Ella she could pick between the ice cream and the cookie.

After lunch, which was full of coaxing and manipulating her to eat if she wanted her "treat", I asked her which one she wanted - the ice cream or the cookie. She debated over this incredibly important issue for a full minute and then decidedly said, "both." Can you blame her?

Last night, I was making salad for dinner and she wanted to know what the white things were in the salad. Mushrooms, I told her. A few minutes later she asked if she could have marshmallows in her salad as well. If only we could have marshmallows in salad, I feel salad would be even more popular.

Ella offered Sandi some of her orange juice pop (just frozen OJ in a popsicle mold.) Sandi said, "No thank you." Ella said, "It doesn't have dairy in it." Who knew she was paying this close attention?

And lastly, Ella loves the expression "Open Sesame." She has it down now, what you use it for and the power it wields. But not long ago, you could overhear her summoning her power to open gates and move adults legs by uttering, "Open Sesame Street."

Friends, Food and Fondness

Maya Loves the Water

Crying ensues when she comes out of the tubby

(what a round little head!!)

Apparently, Ella & Lucas figured out new ways to play with the rice table

Matching Belles... Ella & Michaela

Ella has been having fun visiting friends on the days Sandi is at work. We've had friends over (Jennifer and her 2 1/2 year old Lucus) and we've had fun going around town to visit Vanessa and Brooke and Colin for supper (for both Vanessa and I agree that is the hardest part of a long day alone with kids). Being the social butterfly that I am, I fill the days when Sandi is at work with stimulation for Ella and company for me.

Yesterday, the four of us went to visit my sister Kathryn and our 5-year-old niece, Michaela. Ella and Michaela love, love, love to spend time with each other and are really well matched to play together (even unattended at times which is nice and feels a little weird for me to not have her in my sights at all times.) For Christmas, Ella got the same Belle dress (from Beauty and the Beast) that Michaela has and we made sure to bring it. They paraded around the house, trading handbags every five minutes when the timer went off (Kathryn kept forgetting to set it and Michaela would ask it the time was up since it had been 15 minutes and Kathryn would say, "Yup, one more minute girls.") The picture above is the two of them doing the trade-off. Note Michaela's hands on her hip, likely instructing Ella how to properly wear the purse.

A few snipets of our afternoon with the girls:

Ella was giving me instructions (bossing me around) and telling me to go here, go there and if I followed directions (she was wagging her finger at me the whole time- do I do that?) then I could wear a dress. (At home, if she is on the edge of misbehaving we tell her if she doesn't listen she won't be able to wear one of her dress-up dresses.) I did what she told me and said to my sister, "I like to let Ella feel like she has some power. Even false power." Michaela looked up at me and said, "Ella doesn't have any power but do I?"

The girls didn't want to finish their supper and were told they couldn't have dessert if they didn't eat dinner. Michaela, as usual representing both she and Ella, said, "We don't want dessert." Pause. Then, in a small voice, Ella said, "Yeah, but I do."

And, in true spirit of two girls bonded for life by love and unending devotion, they ran circles around each other making up songs which were hard to decipher. Sandi caught a snipet of some of Michaela's lyrics, "We can do anything together, me and you, because we love each other. Ba-ba-ba do." What more could a girl need in life?

Ella's Food Chain

Ella has been slightly preoccupied with what animals eat. I have been trying to, appropriately, educate her about the food chain and that some animals eat smaller animals and other animals eat vegetation. This all began when she wanted to know why turtles have shells and we started with the explanation of the shell protecting from larger animals so they don't eat the turtle. She started calling these attackers "monsters" (which leads to an entirely separate discussion of monsters. How do you explain to your child that monsters are pretend when watching the news for one day will lend to a different reality?) I tried to explain that they aren't monsters, just hungry animals and that this is what the food chain is about. I tell you, it makes you look at things in a new light when you are teaching them to a child. Things we take for granted as just being they way they are- like the sun coming up, people getting sick, it being winter outside or needing to make money to live- they don't make a lot of sense when you are trying to answer the unanswerable "why?" of a child. Why do we have to work to have money? Wouldn't it be easier if we could just play all the time and have everything take care of itself?

Back to the animals. She asks what zebras eat. Grass (I think.). What do elephants eat? Grass again (I hope.). What do foxes eat? mice and small rodents. What do frogs eat? insects. What do tigers eat? Antelope (among other things- this I get from the Discovery Channel.)

Last night, out of the blue, she started asking me about the zebra diet again. Then she says, "And tigers eat cantelope, right?" I bet the antelope wish. Can you see the tigers in the produce department sniffing and pressing on the melon rind to check for ripeness while the antelope run free on the savannah?

A few minutes later, while I was playing some relaxing music to try to calm Maya through her last desperate hour before the Boob came home from work, we kept listening to the "Rainbow Connection" over and over again. Ella was singing out to the rafters about the "Rainbow Collection" and I thought again of how witty and fun a three-year-old is.

Some things....

No this picture isn't digitally manufactured. Maya really is this big, Ella's hair really is this messy and her teeth really hadn't been brushed.

Things are flowing smoothly and harmoniously here at casa de Carver these days. Ella is, for an unknown reason, sleeping really late in the mornings, taking long naps and (the only downside) going to bed a bit late. Maya is also sleeping well (sorry every blog mentions sleep - it is a premium in our house) and sometimes both girls aren't up until 8 or even 9 am. For me this means time to exercise. I couldn't be more pleased about this after having given up a strenuous exercise program I was halfway through when Maya was born (why did I start it? you ask. Because I like to try to accomplish more than is humanly possible.)

But really I want to let you in to some of the creative inner workings of Ella's mind. Last night when I was putting her to bed I was telling her a made-up story in the format we often use where she fills in details about the characters and has input into the plot line. Last night's story was about a bear who comes out of hibernation because he is hungry and cold. He goes to the doughnut store and what kind of doughnut does he buy? "A star-pocket dewey doughnut," Ella says. When that one didn't taste good, he got a purple "This Old Man doughnut." And when he was still hungry he went down the street and, luckily the ice cream stand just happened to be open on a cold winter's day, and got a purple "gamilla ice cream cone." To remedy the bears issue with the cold I let Ella pick a blanket for him at the store. She could choose between a 2 inch thick, 4 inch thick or 1 foot thick blanket for the bear. What did she pick? A paper blanket. Poor bear. I don't think we helped him out too much.

And lastly, Ella and I were eating dinner the other night while Sandi was at work. She told me her chicken was very tasty and some of it was spicy (pepper). A few minutes later she pointed to it and asked, "What is this?"

Now I sensed what was coming, the denial of the thing she had, moments ago, adored. I answered with the Spanish word for chicken: "That's pollo." She shook her head regretfully. "Oh," she said sadly. "I don't like polo." (and she pronounced it polo instead of poyo.)

She finished dinner quickly as usual and wanted to get down. I asked her, "Would you stay with me and keep me company while I eat?" (after all I had spent all of her eating time getting my dinner.) "Of course I will Momma," she answered sweetly. "But can I go play now?"

First Day Success

With the first day behind us, we are all breathing a sigh of relief this morning (and a sigh of gratitude because we all slept so well last night- Maya made it 8 hours last night!) Overall, yesterday was, if not a smashing success, than at the very least a day worth being proud of.

Maya started out yesterday very tired because she didn't want the bottle for her 6:30 a.m. feeding. Normally she would eat and go back to sleep until 8 or 9 but, because she was too busy crying, she neither ate nor slept. The good news is that I held it together REALLY well. By this I mean, I didn't cry, freak out or count how many hours until the Boob returned. Patti (Gram) came around 9 am and stayed with us for the day, making everything infinitely easier. After the first attempt at the bottle lasted an hour and a half , with Maya giving up part way through to sleep as a protest to the bottle, the next feeding and the ones following, she took like a champ. We took the girls out for a while on some errands and lunch (as Patti says, "This babysitting isn't too rough!") and Maya slept the whole time (which is mostly why we went out plus I go crazy if I'm in the house all day.)

Ella was amazing yesterday. She listened really well and had a lot of fun having Gram with her for the day. She started her day really early by calling out at 5:30 am when Sandi was getting ready for work. Sandi caved and brought her in bed with me and I'm not sure she ever went back to sleep. When Maya woke up at 6:30, I called Sandi and whispered that we were ready for the bottle she had pumped before leaving (6:30 was her departure time) and I said I didn't want to wake Ella. Ella, in her extremely loud whisper says to me, "Yeah, because I'm sleeping." The bummer for Ella came when she woke up from her nap with a fever of 102. I think she has what Sandi had. We had to skip her gymnastics make-up class but with some Ibuprofen on board, she was up dancing to Mary Poppin's "Chim Chimney" in no time.

Not only did having Patti here make everything easier (I got a shower, I made the bed) for having two hands and some adult company, but she also managed to be here on the day her expertise was needed greatly. Our corn stove was malfunctioning and she, with her brilliant mind and recently acquired knowledge of the inner workings of corn stoves, fixed it for us. I can't tell you how much that would have stressed me out had it broken when I was alone, since I would not have had the ability or the time to fix it. Thank you Patti!!

Sandi also did great yesterday. She said that everything was very familiar but she knew she had been away because she had to think about everything instead of having it be automatic. Luckily, she had arranged for a day of re-orientation since there are new computerized parts to the way the ICU runs and she needed to updated. She found time to pump, which she says will be a bit of a struggle when she has patients, and she managed to come home early, which the girls were very happy about. After Sandi's return all I heard last night was, "I want Mommy to do it." Music to my ears.

Some of Ella's comments from yesterday:

"There is a Ferris wheel in the fountain." - regarding the water wheel in the fountain at Oriental Jade.

"Oh, look. A whole bunch of stuff I can't have." - a sad but true comment about the candy at the grocery store checkout.


"Now you don't have to go to work ever again." - said to Sandi this morning. Sandi told her she would be going back tomorrow. "Why?" Ella asked. "I go to take care of the sick people," Sandi told her. "But I'm sick, Mommy," was the heartbreaking response.

What more is there to say?

This afternoon, Sandi was sleeping, Ella had just woken up and I was trying to get Maya to sleep (that is what we do in our house - take shifts sleeping. I think there is about a 4 hour overlap when we are all sleeping at once.) She was crying, resisting sleep which is typical for her in the afternoon. Ella looked at me seriously and said, "I think she needs the boob."

Ella in Momma's Winter Gear

(I believe Suzanne refered to her as a muppet.)

Ella & Chilly in their matching princess dresses

All aboard the Potty Train!

Maya is much more smiley and giggly these days

We've put Ella to work on the taxes

Ella loves that Maya is spending more time at her level (and by that we mean closer to the ground rather than Ella's highly evolved, cunning intellectual capacity.)

Gram thought it might be a good idea to dress Mochy and Ella in matching attire

We had a bit of a scare. We have thousands of pictures and a few videos stored on an external drive that began malfunctioning. I've spent many hours trying to recover them before they were gone forever. Thanks to our friend, Jeff, at HCP Computers we have recovered them all and put them on a new drive. So, here are three new blog entries to cover some of our January events.

And from Suzanne... A big thank you to Sandi for getting these pictures on. She has a nasty cold, another case of mastitis and goes back to work full time the day after tomorrow. I am thrilled to be able to write that we have finally come into a working harmony, the four of us, and our days are more balanced and peaceful. We've got caring for two down to, if not a science, then at least an art, and sleep is- at last- being achieved. Maya is going to be at a reasonable 8 or 9 p.m. and usually waking about 6-7 hours later to eat and sometimes makes it until about 8 a.m. (other times she has a snack again around 5 a.m.) But most importantly, she is napping during the day -usually one long 2-3 hour nap and usually another shorter one. I swear, it is as though heaven has descended right down into our house. Sandi was telling someone about Maya sleeping the other day on the phone and she actually put her arms up in the air in a "hallelujah!" expression. Maya has grown tremendously over the past week and has outgrown all her 0-3 month clothes right on schedule. She will be 3 months old tomorrow.

And regarding the title of this entry... Ella is officially potty trained!!! Which basically means that she finally decided to go on the potty instead of in her pants. For some parents this is a big deal. For us it is monumental, revolutionary and ginormous (I realize it's not a real word but for the sake of exaggeration, bear with me.) Again, think of arms in the air saying "Hallelujah!" (and this is not a term either of us utters often.) To hear those magic words, "I need to use the potty." Music to our ears.

I have just come out the other side of my most difficult period of parenting yet-the temper tantrum phase. It was been so hard for me not to meet her anger with anger and some very diligent work on my part, lengthy discussions with Sandi and many tears, both Ella's and mine, have brought us to a better place. My strategy? The more angry she gets, the more calm I get. It is not always easy. As our friend Charissa says, basically it's good acting. But it works. I am shifting my perspective a bit to see things through Ella's eyes and realize where I can give a bit more than I have, to be more flexible and more forgiving of her quirky delays when leaving the house (like wearing my hot pink pom-pom hat with long knit gloves to the grocery store- she looked like a Muppet) and her need to change clothes every hour on the hour. I am coming to see her energy, the random things that matter greatly to her and her need to assert herself fully at times to be completely endearing and necessary for to maintain her boundless joy. I am learning to be the mother (not in any easy fashion might I add) who wants my children to be happy and expressive and free more than I want to be on time (yes, this is the hardest one) or have the house be clean. Ah, motherhood is expanding me to my limits and beyond. Sometimes it is incredibly painful but mostly I am actually finding that I like myself even better as a result.

So for Ella, her temper tantrums have largely abated, she has become the model big sister and has been full of humor. This morning I was in the kitchen and she was in the living room and she called to me, "Momma, I'm just smelling the dirt, I'm not eating it." (This was in reference to a tulip bulb we have planted in a pot- there was a moment of alarm before I figured out what she was referring to.) Ella's new favorite question is (don't be too shocked) "why?". "Why does the sun go to sleep?" "Why does do I have to go to sleep?" "Why does Gramma have to go home and live at her house?" "Why? Why? Why?" She also asks, "What means..." as in "What means to put on a CD?" "What means a pail?" (we were reading Jack and Jill.)

She has glow in the dark stars on the top of her canopy bed that don't get enough daylight to hold a glow at night so every night we use flashlights to light them up and make them glow. Ella relishes this time. We tell stories, and she asks me 1,000 "why" questions and then we shut the lights off and snuggle under the stars. Sometimes she has a hard time with me leaving and I tell her how lucky she is to sleep under that stars every night. Last night that didn't do the trick so I had to dress Chilly (stuffed polar bear who went to the dentist) in a pair of Maya's too small footed jammies. That did the trick. Stay tuned for our next blog entry where Chilly dresses in drag. I promise, it will be worth it!

Please send you best thoughts for a smooth and easy transition for all of us this week with Sandi's return to work. We will keep you posted. Lots of love!

Ella's First Dentist Appointment

Ella went to see Marcy, our family dental hygenist and friend,

Here she is with Mr. Thirsty. Note her pet polar bear Chilly in the lower right corner. He also went to the dentist.

In my estimation, this is a big deal, going to the dentist. Luckily, Marcy was incredible (with two young children of her own, we weren't surprised) and Ella loved the names she made up for all the tools. Ella was very serious and didn't speak to Marcy for almost the entire appointment but then she would turn her head toward us and give the biggest grin. She was very proud of herself as you can see.

Here's the big clean smile!

And who would go to the dentist without the bribe of a new toothbrush? Ella choose blue. Maya slept in the corner in her car seat pushing aside thoughts of those pesky teeth that will push through her gums.

Welcome Daisy May

It is with extreme elation that we announce the arrival of our dishwasher, Daisy Mae. She weighs about 40 pounds and is 24" across. As you can see from her photo, she is beautiful. We look forward to many, many happy hours as a family- that is, the four of us, while Daisy Mae does the dishes.

Here is a look at her insides (not for the weak stomachs - it's almost sterile it's so clean.)

To say that this is a big deal would be an injustice. For any who have heard me go on about the dishes (I cringe to think how many people that includes), having a dishwasher was like my Holy Grail. We didn't think it was a possiblity due to the lack of space in our existing cabinet structure. One day it occured to me, while I was doing the dishes and cursing under my breath, that if we cut off the cabinet to the right of the sink we could fit it there since there was more than a foot of space between that cabinet and the wall. Sandi became involved with her engineers mind and constructed the adorable cupboard to the right of Daisy Mae so that she (meaning Daisy Mae, not Sandi) could be enclosed. We use it for Saran Wrap and aluminum foil. It's perfect! And still needs to be painted.

There was some complianing about the cost of the dishwasher and the related expense of new countertop and such but Trish summed it up nicely when she said, "It will be worth it to not have to hear Suzanne talk about how much time she spend doing the dishes!" And she is right. Now I spend my time bragging about how quickly I got the kitchen cleaned up. When we go to bed at night, Sandi says, "The maid is downstairs doing our dishes while we're up here sleeping." Now, if I could just get someone to fold the laundry...

Thank you Emilie!

(Explanation at bottom...)

Ella & Emmie on New Year's Eve

Thanks for the gentle reminder, Emilie! I'm glad someone is going to hold us to our resolution. Never hurts to have your feet held to the fire.

What a crazy time we've had to wrap up our holiday season. We spent Christmas on the island as most of you know. We traveled back home on a Friday and had our Christmas on Saturday. On Sunday, we had some of our most favorite people (Emilie, Sam, Skyler and Reed) over for a birthday dinner (Happy Birthday, Sammy). On Monday, we also spent New Year's Eve with some of our most favorite people (Mindy, Charissa and Emerson). It was a big sleep over, complete with more Christmas, sparkling wine, and a wide awake baby to ring in the new year (she may have fallen asleep prior to that actual ball drop). Trish came to stay with us a couple of nights during the week and then Kris and Brev came to stay on the weekend. Mom and Dad came to see one of Trishy's games at Hampden Academy and to stay for dinner. We've installed new countertops to make space for the dishwasher that will be arriving on Wednesday. Mindy came by to do some light plumbing and while she was here we were fortunate to have visits from Charissa and Em and Meredith and Rosalyn.

All in all, we've been blessed with some crazy times full of friends and family. Many of you will be very happy to hear that Ella is now mostly potty trained (when she wants to be, hence, the "mostly" part). Maya is a much happier "dairy-free" baby. Suzanne went back to work yesterday and I'm finally getting back to the computer to give you all an update.

The mantra in our house right now is, "I can do it. I can do it! I can do it!!" Always three in a row with each being more emphatic that the previous.

Here are some recent pics....

Our smily girl

Charissa, Ella & Em attempting a Christmas pic together...

(Charissa was the only cooperative one in all 8 pictures)

Gramp & his kids

Ella & Brevie lovin' it up on the couch

Until Brevie decided to give a full body hug

and then things got ugly

Our Giant Mailbox

Ella's lovely new rice table

We need more rice...

Ella in her brand spankin' new, princess sleeping bag and rockin' tutu

Our smily little girl

This morning, Ella decided that we should go down to the basement and build a "rice table." Down we went to check out what spectacular materials we might have that we could assemble such a thing. I love my toys, I mean tools, and enjoy creating whatever my imagination should grasp hold of at 2:00 a.m. So, those of you who know me best know well that I am a shameless wood scrap collector. I will keep just about anything. Don't laugh, I've conjured many a useful item out of wood scraps. Look at our corner shelves in the living room that hold our surround sound speakers, or Ella's book shelf and closet rod in her bedroom, or the kid table and chairs in the living room. The list goes on. And you never know when your 3 year old might decide that she needs a rice table, "just like the one at preschool."


Anyhow, Ella and I set out the find just the right scraps for a rice table when she asked, "What's that giant mailbox for?" I looked around, hunting for the giant mailbox. "Do you mean that blue tote?" "No," she responded, and pointing to the corner, exclaimed "that giant mailbox over there!" I followed her gesture, and wouldn't you know it, we hold our oil in a giant mailbox.

Christmas Resolution

Maya & Auntie Krick on Christmas Eve

Dancing with Santa

Reading The Night Before Christmas with Gram

Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree on Christmas Eve

I think that we are finally ready to assert a wholehearted effort to keep our blog updated more frequently. The holiday season has certainly added an element to our already crazy schedule of daily events. It's a tight ship we run. Family and friends have commented, "You guys are always on the go," and "You are all getting very efficient at this," referring to our ever-improving time to get both kids ready, packed and in the van when it's time to go. Suz and I often look at the clock when we buckle our seat belts and boast, "Well, we're getting closer and closer to the scheduled time of departure." I think we've actually been in the van and moving on schedule a couple of times. This is quite a feat. We set extremely high expectations of ourselves, considering our assertive 3 year old who likes to move on her time frame and our no-kind-of-a-schedule infant. We always tended to pack a lot into our days and we haven't really tempered that down, despite the 2 additional family members.


After watching how much our friend, Emilie, can get done (including daily blog entries, complete with pictures) and still remain "calm as a cucumber," I have decided that we also can accomplish this feat (at least more frequent than 2 a month). For a really funny account of a gingerbread/snowman cupcake making party with our kids (we promise you will laugh) visit Emilie's site: www.manhartfamily.blogspot.com.


So, our Christmas resolution shall be to keep our friends and family better informed of our mishaps, accomplishments and general well-being. Entertainment can be found everywhere in our lives right now. Why not share it?

Santas or Scrooges?

Check out the emerging dimples....

Sandi and I are working away toward Winter Wonderland (but sometimes in what feels a bit like Winter-can-I-please-get-a-Valium Land). Yesterday we went Christmas shopping with the kids (attempt number 3) and we stupidly took Ella to Toys-R-Us (also know as store of Kiddie Crack) and thought she would be okay if we let her play with just a couple of things to tide her toy hunger through the store. Then Sandi checked out (with the secretly purchased gift for Ella) and I took the crying Maya in her carrier and attempted to take Ella. In a last ditch effort to stay in what she calls "Elmo's House", she started to cry for Sandi. Now, if any of you were at the Bangor Toys-R-Us Wednesday around 11 am and heard the screams, I can now set the story straight. Taking Ella out of the store screaming "MOMMY! MOMMY!" for Sandi wasn't an attempted kidnapping on my part, it was just a mom trying to prevent her daughter from seeing her future Christmas present. So there I was, Maya's carrier in the crook of my arm, and Ella being fireman-carried out of Toys-Be-Damned and all the while I am thinking, "forget the princess computer- how about a labotomy." (Of course, in true three-year-old fashion, as soon as Sandi came out and we headed for the car she began screaming "MOMMA! I WANT MOMMA!" and proceeded to have a tantrum complete with shudder sobs, full snot and screaming in the car, "Just talk to me Momma! Talk to me!" as we ignored her antics.)

Maya is 7 weeks old now and has changed her look dramatically. She is sweet and adorable and has just started to really smile (a substantial reward for late nights and long crying jags when her tummy won't settle. Who ever thought one dimply, open mouthed grin would be enough for all the grunt work of motherhood?) If Maya had a Native name it would be Baby-Who-Needs-No-Sleep. This chick can stay awake longer than Ella- no joke. Yesterday, Maya made it a whopping 10 hours with no sleep -from 1 pm until 11 pm. It is as though she gets so overtired she cannot physically fall asleep. Ella continues to dote on her like a mother hen sometimes and other times she wants to see what Maya is really made of -there was one instance of Ella testing her bicep/forearm strength by squeezing Maya's hand until she screamed. Picture Ella with a timer, squeezing for all she's worth, and thinking, "Wow, this baby can really take it!" or "Ten more seconds 'till I break her!"

So as you might imagine, we are vacillating somewhere between bliss and misery here in this Christmas season. Luckily, it is mostly the former now that our Christmas baking and delivering is finished, presents are bought (although not wrapped) and we actually start our various Christmas celebrations this weekend. Perhaps what tipped the scales more toward the bliss end of the spectrum is that yesterday we got the best possible news we could have gotten. Now, I know you may be thinking that one of my top two current dreams had been realized- 1.) the installation of a dishwasher since I have come to despise doing the piles of dishes that mounts every second of everyday or 2.) that Mary Poppins taught me that nifty trick with the snapping of fingers and magical cleaning (I am not ashamed to admit I fantasize about having this skill often- a minimum of 10 times per day). No it wasn't one of these but we did find out that Sandi's claim for short-term disability, which she was denied, had been reconsidered and approved! This means that the unpaid portion of her leave (which we are in now) will actually be paid. What a relief for us! It just took some faith and hardcore letter writing for them to see the error of their ways (bribing and threatening would have been next.)

I will close with some of Ella's latest:

"Mommy I'm flooded." - in response to choking on her drink.

"Where am I?" - a question posed when her turtleneck was stuck over her head.

"I can't hear myself!" - this is a common one and a favorite of ours that she says when Maya cries in the car.

"Dashing through the snows..." -her rendition of jingle bells.

"I need my height shoes." - what she calls her plastic dress-up high heels.

"Watch out that the stinkin' dog doesn't get outside!" - a warning to Sandi about Mochy's constant attempt at a last minute escape as we leave the house.

"If Santa could bring me a Belle dress and a Cinderella dress, my princess clothes would be complete." - her Christmas wish list.

"I don't want to ask one more time." - a comment directed toward me as a punishment, I believe, for saying this to her.

And my personal favorite:

Me: "Ella did you poop?" (I won't get into it but potty training is non-existent)
Ella: "No."
Me: "Well I smell poop."
Ella: "Nope. That's just Mochy's breath."

Comedy Show

The other day Ella woke up at what seemed like an excessively early hour. I told her as much and she said, "It isn't even thirty o'clock yet."

Sometimes we lovingly refer to Maya as a little skunk. Last night we were driving in the car and Ella said to us, "There's a crying skunk back here."

On this same outing, on the return trip, Maya was again crying in the car (honestly, why do we even bother to go out?) and Ella said, "I can't hear myself! I can't hear myself!" I hear you Ella- that is how I feel most days!

Ella screamed about 90% of the time we were in the grocery store a few days ago. It was lovely. She lost many of her privileges and kept up with the carrying on anyway. When we were almost finished, and were rounding the dairy section, she said, "I'm sorry Momma." I said, "Thank you Ella." She said, "Can I have my treats now?" You've gotta give it to her for trying...

Ella's latest

Ella has been enjoying her new found freedom as of late. Whereas most toddlers find themselves in some dicey situations with their want to touch and reach and explore everything, we have always marveled (and celebrated) Ella's relatively mild level of curiosity that begs kids to climb onto, taste, open and generally experience basic objects and household items. We are paying for it now.

Ella is into everything. Nothing is safe- even if it is nailed down. She is the busiest busybody. Today, she got into her gummy vitamins. You must understand her level of adoration for these gelatinous bears. She can have two a day, morning and night, but that doesn't stop her for asking either Sandi or myself for one, whichever mom didn't give it to her, when she has barely swallowed the gooey mass. Well, today, she took the bottle off the counter and opened it (I thought I had secured the child safe top but apparently, with all things these days, I had not completed the task and given it the needed extra half turn of the top.) She took it in the living room (think: into her private lair) and proceeded to eat the rest of the bottle. She told Tia, "I think I ate too many vitamins." You think? The pediatricians office and Poison Control concur that she will live.

The other day I told Ella that Sandi would be getting her up from her nap instead of me (which is our routine and any deviation sets her orbit adrift). I was testing her to see if she remembered - before I left her room I asked, "Who is going to be getting you up from your nap?" She answered with a snappy, "The lady feeding the baby."


When Ella finished her bath the other night, she told me she needed to use the potty (you might think my jubilation about this event that normally occurs in her pants might be the point of this story but, rest assured, there is more.) She sat down (and actually went!) and then told me she was done. I wiped her and took her off the potty and said, "Go out and see Mommy." She said, "I can't." I said, "Ella, please go out and see Mommy. I'll be right out." She said, "I can't! There's something in my butt!" I spun her around and sure enough there was the wad of toilet paper I had neglected to push all the way through. Poor bugger. These are the moms she's got right now.

We have been working toward decorating for Christmas including going on our annual trek to Piper Mountain Christmas Tree Farm with Mindy and Charissa and Emerson (maybe some pictures will be posted someday) to cut down a tree. I've got boxes of Christmas stuff everywhere- the tree is up since yesterday and has politely requested to be decorated instead of standing naked in our living room (I feel like retorting with "You need to wait your turn. We're learning how to take turns!" and then I remember that would be completely psychotic.) I'm not really working THAT much and Sandi (a.k.a. the lady feeding the baby) is home for 12 weeks but the days FLY by with little being finished and the to-do list growing. I'm trying to enjoy each day instead of focusing on the unaccomplished. This is made easier when Ella finds such delight in unwrapping our beloved snowman collection and says to me "I love Christmastime. I love the presents, lights and music." This was echoed when I showed her her very first snowglobe the other day at the store. I flipped it over and suddenly Santa and his friends were suddenly in Winter Wonderland. Her eyes doubled and her mouth stretched into a giant smile - her whole face was aglow with sheer awe and wonder- and she said, "Oh!" What a great reminder of the magic of life and especially of this season. I have to say, with all it's challenges, it is wonderful to relive the world through the eyes of a child. Needless to say, I bought the snowglobe.