I can’t accept failure…so I had to try again. 🙂
First outside (cute but NOT my typical perfect shot—at least you can see the whole outfit):
“Come back and sit down, Katie.”
And then I tried inside again but it still wasn’t happening so I didn’t get THE shot today. Oh well…
Over the years we just never cared about getting the picture with Santa. I hate crowds and I hate holiday crowds even more…so we just never did it. Then, once Owen was a bit older, we tried…but the commotion was too much for him and we had to leave before Santa even arrived.
Fast forward to this year and he’s showing A LOT more interest in Christmas—like things he wants and asking about Santa—so I thought I’d have to try this year (of course, the year Tom is gone). Thankfully, the local autism society planned a sensory-friendly event at the mall (two hours before regular pictures with Santa started) and we were first in line!
Owen was good at being patient (just asking a handful of times how many more minutes) and overall it was easy peasy! Of course Katie wasn’t her normal smiling self, but I was just happy she wasn’t snotty and/or screaming and/or wiggly and actually looked at the camera. I think they only took four pictures! Owen was great, too—and was EXCITED to see Santa. (Last night when I was telling him about the “mystery trip” to prepare him, he asked if it was the real Santa or a pretend Santa. I had no idea where he got the idea of real and pretend, but I told him it was a pretend Santa because of course the real Santa was getting ready at the North Pole. He accepted that.)
Of course the picture packages are a complete racket—but I ended up with a $40 package because it came with a $20 Shutterfly credit. I could have gotten cheaper packages but they only came with $10 Shutterfly credits so it was cost efficient (for me) to get the bigger package. So I will have actual photos to mail out this year. 🙂
On the way out, Owen wanted to ride in this kiddie car. I just happened to have the required quarters, so I said okay.
As you can see, Katie lasted about four seconds…and Owen only lasted about three more. 🙂
Katie just wasn’t having it this morning…and this first picture is about the best of the bunch. Then you can see some of the fun I had.
With Aquazookas this time. 🙂
Nothing really blog-worthy happened today…but I did post a few things on Facebook that I thought I’d share here:
Up today? Toy Story. Both are fully entranced. Unfortunately, we only got to see about 10 minutes of the movie before our network decided to flake out…and an hour of messing with it did nothing. Which leads to…
I am so sick of our worthless wireless network that there just might be 500 yards of ethernet cable running through the house when Tom gets home.
On the best of days, I don’t have the energy for two sick kids (with one super snotty girl). On a day like today when I am feeling exhausted and headachy, I REALLY don’t have the energy to be up and wiping noses every two minutes. But when you can see the snot fly through the air during a sneeze…you can’t really ignore it. At least Owen can (mostly) do his own and can kind of help with Katie…but I still need to intervene a lot.
Aww crap. I just realized Katie is likely teething. It’s about the age and would explain the extra chewing and slobber. Yeah, you’d think I would have thought of that before now…but no.
I’m so glad Owen didn’t want to take a nap today so that he could fall asleep on the couch at 4:45. 😐
And I just had to be a mean mom and wake Owen up from a nap. I just couldn’t let him take a long nap at this time of day when his bedtime is 7:30…because I am NOT giving up my nightly alone/me time if I can help it. Especially since I want to go to bed early since I’m not feeling the best.
How can one tiny girl produce SO much snot?!
Of course the best time to find out the humidifier in your kid’s room is dead is at bedtime. GRRR. Unfortunately, this means a trip to town—since it’s the weekend, Amazon wouldn’t get here until Wednesday…and with a coupon at BB&B I can get $10 off. Blurg.
It took about 50 pictures to capture this without blurriness—they were having a blast!
The day started out well enough. Owen was very VERY excited about going to Uncle Roger’s for Thanksgiving…and kept asking me how many minutes how many minutes how many minutes. I told him it wouldn’t be until after Katie’s nap, so then he started asking how many minutes until her nap. Over and over and over. At 9am. 🙂 He told me he was going to go get in the car. I told him no, it wasn’t time yet. I finally told him it would be a few hours, and I would let him know when it was time…I wouldn’t let him miss it.
Fast forward until after Katie’s nap. I had the mashed potatoes going on the stove and their nice outfits all ready…and of course she woke up too early. Fine, no problem. I got them both dressed for pictures. Katie wasn’t terribly happy (she’s got a cold—as does Owen—and her nap wasn’t long enough) so it was challenging to say the least. And she was really REALLY cute, too, so I was disappointed. But I was snapping away and hoping I’d at least get one decent shot.
Then it was off to finish the potatoes. And take breaks every minute or so to wipe Katie’s nose. And try to get Owen to RELAX about getting his shoes and coat on and wanting to get in the car. And then I decided to take more pictures…AND DISCOVERED THERE WAS NO MEMORY CARD IN THE CAMERA SO I DIDN’T HAVE ANY PICTURES. I wasn’t in a great mood before that, so that just pushed me over the edge. (It’s the little things, I swear.)
So I was rushing to get everything packed to leave the house (changes of clothes for both kids because it was Owen’s Clean Out Weekend and because Katie accidentally got some of Owen’s “poop juice”, diapers, pull-ups, snacks, etc.), get the potatoes finished and in the crock pot, stack all the dirty dishes, let the dog out, and then—since I’m apparently a masochist—TRY TO TAKE MORE PICTURES WITH UNCOOPERATIVE KIDS… Needless to say I didn’t get one good picture.
The best picture of the super cute hand-me-down dress:
The best of the awful sibling pics:
The good thing about the day was going to our friend’s house—my babysitter’s house—so she took over Katie duty while her younger sister played with Owen. This became Katie’s favorite new activity:
The kids were having a great time playing (Owen even asked to play on the big outdoor trampoline!), I was drinking wine and visiting, and all seemed well. Until Owen came over to me asking where the bathroom was, so I went with him to show him—and watched as he puked in the toilet. Twice. Oh lovely. I told him he might be going home—if he was sick, we really couldn’t stay. He immediately started whining that he didn’t want go…he wanted to keep playing. So I told him we had to take his temperature and if he had a temp, we had to go. He didn’t have a temp, so we stayed.
The dinner was nice and it was good to be with friends—it helped not to miss Tom quite as much. But of course Owen was frustrating. He had told me he would try all the new foods…but come time, he didn’t touch anything. He claims he ate a bite of mashed potatoes but he didn’t. He didn’t even want his yogurt. Sigh. Then he had to go potty—and I went to check on him (I don’t trust him when we’re not at our house)—and it’s a good thing I did because he had peed all over the toilet, floor, and waste basket. SERIOUSLY?! Breathe. Breathe. I know where the cleaning supplies are, so off I went. It wasn’t a big deal (and they didn’t care) but still, it was like WHAT ELSE IS GOING TO HAPPEN?! Then we called it an early night because Katie was getting tired and I really just wanted to get into jammies and relax.
Once we got home, I tried pictures again…and didn’t have much more luck.
Both kids were in bed by 7 and then I got to relax…
Because just for an instant I have my tiny baby back. 🙂
This just happened. I’m guessing Katie spilled milk I didn’t see and the laptop was sitting on top of it and it dried and…baked on? So it ripped off part of the ottoman which is now stuck to my laptop. Ugh.
I guess the bright side is the laptop still works—unlike when Owen stepped on it and cracked the screen.
I let Owen eat breakfast watching TV this morning. Of course it was impossible to keep Katie away after she was done with her food…so eventually this happened.
And then I took a video without moving from my spot so they wouldn’t stop what they were doing. I should have zoomed in but I was too intent on making sure I caught it. 🙂
She loves having the bear in there.
I was trying to get her to look at me and smile but I got this funny look:
I still can’t believe she lets me cover her up! (It doesn’t last but it’s cute for a minute!)
Yes, she’s certainly going to be my little troublemaker.
Unsnapped, unzipped, and more than half off when I walked in to get her this morning.
He’s doing something that’s making noise so she has to be right up there. (He’s practicing writing letters on the iPad.)
This is how Owen plays with his sister in the morning to keep her quiet. Pillows, toys, books…all piled in the crib with her..and she loves it!
And in the same jammies..with an EIGHT MONTH difference!
Owen put the tiger in her hair and it stuck there…just long enough for the picture. 🙂
Copying brother, as usual.
She loves the little chairs we have. She hauls them all over. Here, she’s trying to figure out how to get it up the step. Owen is singing in the background.
She loves playing in the pile of gravel by the shed. Today, she brought me this, in a tiny closed fist across the whole yard:
I had to wake Katie up to go get Owen from school. She heard me and just stretched then changed positions, obviously not wanting to get up. Can’t say I blame her—I don’t like getting woken up either.
We went to Sam’s Club this morning. Since we’re Business Members we can get in early and they have a table set up with coffee, OJ, fruit, and pastries. I usually get Katie a banana and she will eat the whole thing while we’re shopping. (As an aside, she takes full adult-sized bites. She has to put the whole banana in her mouth. Freaks me out just a little.)
So this morning I grab a banana like usual, she sees it, gets excited, and says “NANNA!”
Well, that’s a first!
In Owen’s old monkey PJs.
Not minding being covered up.
I have a feeling this is how she’s going to get her first split lip or her first set of stitches…trying to climb up the ladder when I’m not looking.
And this is her complete glee at stealing my seat!
