Firewoman in Training

Last week, we went to a local fire station with my MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) group.  Lynley is always fascinated with fire engines though she doesn't like the loud sounds that they make.  The last time that we saw a fire engine that we could get on and sit was at the Easter egg hunt but Lynley was very afraid because the engine was running.  So, going to the fire station was a risk.  She kept her hands over her ears most of the time even though there were never any loud sounds.  After quite a long while, she finally got the courage to get in the fire engine.  Mom had to get in too.

 She loved it once she was in it.  She even tried on the fire hat which is VERY heavy.  She finally asked me to wear it because it was making her dizzy.  No wonder, it probably weighed at least 10 pounds.  After all was said and done, it was a success and Lynley loved it.  She might have loved the fire hydrant outside the station even more.  Fireman are incredible people.  It is amazing the way that they live in order to keep us safe.

Going to the chapel and we're gonna see a wedding!

Lynley has been to two weddings in the past few months.  The first was a very short ceremony so she did great!  She loved seeing all the Princesses (bride and bridesmaids) The last one was more of a traditional wedding and Lynley didn't last 5 minutes in the ceremony...but she had a great time at the reception.  She loved getting dressed up in her Easter dress and wearing Mommy's pearls.  The bride was Korean so they had a lot of Korean and chopsticks.  Our multicultural little girl loved the food and even tried her hand at chopsticks.  She did great!  We were so impressed that she could eat noodles with chopsticks.  A difficult feat for most adults!!!

Lynley also had so much fun running around with other boys and girls at the reception.  Good thing the bride and groom were so laid back and expected that with a lot of children...this is what it would be like!

Potty Training Success Stories

Very proud to announce that Lynley made it a whole day about 3 days ago without diapers (except for sleep time) or an accident. We were home that whole day which made it a little easier.  The next day, Lynley wanted to wear "big girl underwear"/panties while we went to play with some friends at the mall.  I was very nervous because she wouldn't even let me put a pull-up over it....just in case.  I did bring a change of clothes with me but she didn't need it.  YEAH!  This is such a big achievement because when she is playing she tends to get distracted and forget that she needs to go to the bathroom (after being so used to diapers).  She made it again all morning and early afternoon today playing at McDonalds in big girl panties....letting me know when she had to use the bathroom.  She hasn't really used the bathroom anywhere but home except for two days ago.  We are so proud of our big girl!  I know that she will have setbacks...we had a little accident at home today but we are on the way to being potty trained.  Just in time to have another in diapers....at least, it won't be two in diapers!

Mary, Mary Quite Contrary, How does your garden grow?

Some of you know that there are a few garden enthusiasts in my family.  My mom and father-in-law are quite in to gardening and/or getting others to grow gardens.  When my mom, AKA Grandma Book, was here in January she bought us some peas to plant.  Grandpa Nick gave us a Topsy Turvy and another kit to grow things. We are trying strawberries in the the Topsy Turvy and trying to grow Snow Peas in the the other kit.  Since we don't have a yard for a garden, our porch is our garden.  I was inspired by all the gardening to try to grow herbs since we use a lot in our cooking. 

Lynley is loving gardening.  She loved the planting and now loves watering her plants though she goes a little overboard sometimes.

We were so excited this week that our first plants, the pea plant, has produced 8 peas at this point.  I don't know how much luck we will have the rest of the summer as it is soooo hot here.  We will see.  Our herbs are growing great!  The strawberries and other peas show not signs of growth...but it is always worth a try.  Here is our proud gardener and one of our prize peas...close up!!!

Tea for Three

A few weeks ago, the three of us went for tea at a local tea house that I had bought a Groupon for.  It was originally for myself and a friend to go, but the coupon was to expire so Seb was a sport and went to the tea house with Lynley and me.  Lynley had the best time.  She loved drinking tea from the cup and dressing up.  She felt like a princess!  She had a little tea and a lot of milk and sugar...but hey...that is a little girl's tea should be.

Lynley has had a lot of practice with tea at home.  Her Aunt Sorina introduced her to hot tea when she was about 1 1/2 and since then everytime I have hot tea at home, Lynley must have some too.

Lynley also enjoyed the other people at the restuarant.  Some women were setting up for a baby shower.  The guest of honor was having a girl and got to see firsthand how much fun they could be.  I didn't tell her the fun comes with an equal measure of trouble! ;-)   Lynley kept saying they were princesses and loved watching the other women!

We have a tea lover on our hands...takes after her momma!  Lynley also had her hand at taking her first picture....not too bad!

Another princess on the way!

Meet Collette with knees to her chest!

This is old news to many of you but I got really behind....may be a constant state with blogging....We are having another baby girl!  We are so excited though daddy would have loved a baby boy. He is excited to have a healthy baby girl!  So far, everything looks great.

At the ultrasound, from the first picture of the face, I knew it was a girl.  The nose just looks like a girl's!!! She is very active.  The ultrasound tech had a hard time getting the pictures she needed because of how much she moved.  You know coming from someone who does it all the time to say the baby is active...that the baby is active.  Probably takes after her big sister.  How I wish you could stockpile sleep!!!

Her feet!!

The Dr. came in and took a million more pictures which made Seb and me very nervous.  After several minutes, he said "Enough pictures of this beautiful baby!"  What a sigh of relief from both of us!  Since then, we have heard only good things from test results,etc.  We are thankful for what appears to be a healthy baby girl and pray that God continues to develop her beautifully! 

This precious love will be named after her grandfathers.  Nicollette Warner....we will call her Collette.  Just a few more months until we meet the little princess until then we have these sweet pictures and her plentiful kicks to know her by.  Lynley is constantly kissing my belly and giving Collette kisses and hugs!!!

EASTER SUNDAY!

For some of you, this is a long awaited post to see pictures. 

When Lynley woke up in the AM, the Easter Bunny (mom) had set out Easter eggs filled with candy leading to her Easter basket.  She had lots of fun picking up each one to see what candy was in it so much fun that the toys in the basket were small potatoes.  I vow next year that there won't be half as much candy.  We will see if I can stick by that!  She is still eating the candy a month later (she only gets it when she goes on the potty which is at least 1-2 times a day).  

 

 



Lynley's first marshmallow chick ever!!!



After the basket, it was off to church looking like a precious little princess in her white Strasburg dress her Aunt Sorina gave her.  Those dresses are quite long (even for a girl in the 95% for height...not sure who they aren't too long for) and we are grateful for Grandma Bunica who took it up a little the night before or Lynley would have been tripping on the dress something fierce.  Lynley looked adorable as all can see.

We had lunch afterwards at a restuarant and after everyone took an afternoon nap, we had Easter dinner.  A custom in Romania is for each person to have a boiled egg and take turns cracking each other's egg going around the table.  As you tap your eggs on your neighbor's, you say in Romanian "Christ is Risen"...you neighbor cracks your egg and says in Romanian, "He is Risen indeed."  Lynley, of course, didn't understand the words but loved cracking the eggs.  I think it was the highlight of dinner for her.  She is still loving making, cracking, and peeling eggs now.  She is quite good at peeling eggs for a 2 1/2 yr old.  I definitely have a great helper in the kitchen.

Couldn't make it through the day without trying on the new rainboots Lynley had been begging for!!

Easter Egg Hunts and other fun!

As Easter ramped up, we got to participate in a few fun Easter egg hunts.  Lynley got to do one last year but didn't really fully understand it.  My MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) table got together on Good Friday for an Easter egg hunt at one of my friend's nice big yards. The children got to decorate cupcakes first which Lynley took very seriously!

The egg hunt was great fun as Lynley learned that she really had to look for the eggs and get moving when she saw one!

After the hunt, she was all about looking at the candy that she got...opening every egg and taking stock of the loot.

The Saturday before Easter, our suburb, does an Easter Egg Hunt for the whole area that is great.  The egg hunt doesn't take a lot of effort as there are eggs a plenty. Lynley's basket was overflowing.

The Egg Hunt has a lot of other fun stuff.  Lynley enjoyed jumping in the jump house there.  She also enjoyed taking a picture with Chick-fil-A cow all dressed up for Easter. 

The Easter Bunny hopped away before we could get pictures with him which made Lynley sad...until we got her face painted....and got a SnoCone!!  Very fun!!

And we got to have pictures of the cutest Easter Bunny ever!!

Another part of the fun was that G-pa and Bunica got to be here with us over Easter weekend.  Saturday evening we colored Easter Eggs.  A first for Lynley, she did a great job putting the eggs in the colors and decorating them afterward!!!

Whew, what a lot of fun and Easter wasn't even here yet!!!

Lynley's first big stomach bug

Well, as soon as you commend a child for not being sick...she gets sick!  I think the real deal was the germs at the Dr.  Go in for a well visit....back a few days later for a sick one!!  What fun! Literally, we went to the Dr. on Friday and Lynley got sick on Wed. 

On Wednesdays, we usually have Community Bible Study and we went to lunch with some friends afterward.  Lynley was particularly fussy and I thought she was just tired.  She did fall asleep in the car on the way home which is a first in several months.  She then proceeded to not take a nap.  On the way to choir, it happened!!! She threw up all over herself and the car.  Poor thing! I pulled over when I could to clean her up and then headed home.  Funniest thing is that Lynley cried all the way home not because she was sick but because she didn't get to go see Miss Pilar who watches her on Wed. while Mom and Dad sing in choir.  Lynley loves her Miss Pilar!

Thank goodness we got home quickly as poor Lynley proceeded to get sick several times. At this point, we were really wishing she hadn't opted for Cherry Sprite at lunch!!!  Seb was gracious to let me go to help a friend prepare eggs for a huge Easter egg hunt and he tended to Lynley.  Lynley was unfortunately well aquainted with throwing up after watching me for the past several months and actually made it to the bathroom a few times.   Thinking the worst was over, Seb put Lynley in her crib only for her to sick a few hours later.  While cleaning up her bed, Seb made a pallet on the floor for Lynley and she fell asleep.  There is a first time for everything....lets you know how sick she really was.  She awoke again and got sick and we were so glad that the friend I went to visit had given us some children's Zofran (a wonder drug!!!).  The Dr. had OKed us giving it to her should she awake sick again.  This helped Lynley make it through the night.

The next day was another Dr. visit to be told it was a virus that would take a few days to pass through her system.  Lynley didn't throw up much after that (only at night for the next two days) but she did get a fever that day and laid on me a lot...taking naps at random on me. It was the only way she would nap.  I felt so sorry for her but enjoyed the snuggle time. She didn't eat much either as one might expect.  It took her a few days to get to feeling better.  Many have told me this must have been quite a bug as you usually get better in a day or two.  It took her about 5 or 6 days for a complete recover. We knew she was better the day that she ate all day long....literally making up for lost time!

You will be glad to know that I have included no pictures in this blog! It is so hard to watch a little one be sick but so glad that she is better. I am thankful for a husband who took the brunt of it as the Lord knows that I couldn't handle much of that right now.  We are also very blessed that the rest of us didn't get sick too.

I got very behind of blogging taking care of the precious love...but hoping to get back on track now.

2 1/2 and growing like a weed

Well, March 28th was a happy, happy half-birthday to Lynley.  We celebrated by making cupcakes.  Lynley was very much a part of the process and enjoyed making them and decorating them as much if not more than eating them.   She is actually a great little baker...a filled the cupcake tins quite nicely!

 2 1/2 also brought a well check-up to the Dr.  Lynley is doing great developmentally as those of us who spend time with her already knew.  The Dr. did ask her to draw vertical line.  Lynley refused to doing anything of the sort which made the Dr. document that she was "strong-willed".  If only the Dr knew, that was small potatoes.  Nonetheless, at home the next day, Lynley had her drawing board out.  I drew a vertical line and asked her to draw it.  She did perfectly and said,"That is what the Dr. wanted me to do".  What a little stinker!!! ;-) 

Physically, Lynley is doing great too.  She is 38 1/4 inches tall (90-95%) and 32.5 lbs.(75-90%). As we all know, she is tall and thin.  I hope this stays with her all her life!!!  The Dr. commented on the fact that we hadn't been to the Dr. in 6 months also.  Quite a feat for a little one...especially since she is around kids at church and MMO and several other places.  She has a strong immune system...Praise God for that! 

What a blessing it is to celebrate 2 1/2 years with such a precious blessing who has forever changed all of our lives!! Many a mother say that you never realize how much you can love someone until you have a child....so true!

A trip to the Zoo...a first for one!

A few weeks ago, the whole family went to the zoo.  I had a groupon that was about to expire so we went on a cloudy and cool Sunday.  We were able to see most of the animals so it was a good day to be at the zoo.  We were surprised by how many people were there with us.  Lynley was more engaged with the animals than she has ever been.  It has been a year since we have been to the zoo.  

One of the highlights for Lynley was getting to see a Skenk (sp?) up close, a cross between a snake and some sort of a lizard.

Of course, the most exciting thing for Lynley turned out to be a big old, big old lollipop that she had to have after seeing another little girl with it.  After much mention at several animals,  Daddy finally went to find a lollipop.  We had fun at the petting zoo after the lollipop was finished.

Lynley and Daddy had a fun time on the carousel and playing at the park's zoo. 

So, are you wondering who it was a first for?  Sebastian!!! He mentioned on the way home that he had never been to a zoo.  Who knew?  What a fun memory!

A Princess at the Ball

A few weeks ago, Lynley had the privilege of attending one our of precious friend's, Megan's, 4th birthday party.  This was an extremely special birthday party not just because we love Megan, but because it was Lynley's first Princess party.  Lynley doesn't have a "real" princess dress yet, but she didn't really notice.  We dressed her up in a beautiful dress, a tiara, gave her a magic wand, put pretty princess bows in her hair and she was set. 

We actually rehearsed being a princess a few days before.  I had fairy wings for Lynley and she practiced being a Princess Fairy and turning Grandma Book, Grandpa Larry, and, of course, Mommy and Daddy into several different things.  She turned us into frogs that could jump, bagels she could eat, etc. The best part was the "Abracadabra" which came out "Abrateeabra".

Click here to see the video.  (I apologize that it is sideways.  I have spent hours now trying to figure it out and can't find the CD manual.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHZMNp5wYRA

When we got to the birthday party, Lynley got to decorate her own princess crown and bag to be used for a scavenger hunt.  The girls looked for and found lots of princess jewelry to wear. 

Then, the girls had the royal treatment with their nails being painted and getting princess tattoos.  Lynley was very pleased with her Snow White tattoo for several days. 

Finally, came the amazing castle cake and ice cream that Megan's mom, Val, made all by herself.  As you can see, it was beautiful and tasted great too.  Val is gong to be the next cake boss!  :-)

Finally, the girls got to have there go at a princess pinata.  Never fear, no princesses were hurt in this process.  The new thing is for everyone to pull on a string and one opens the pinata.   Picking up the candy was great fun though Lynley was timid as she gets quiet with crowds of people.  Mommy and Daddy helped her get plenty of candy.  The biggest hit for her was the candy bracelets.

After a great day at the ball, we headed home before we all turned back to our rags and our carriage turned back into a pumpkin.  It was quite a ball though that Lynley will not soon forget!!

Playing in the Rice Box

Many children have the experience of playing in a sand box when they are little.  Lynley loves to play in the sandbox and one day, God willing, when we have our own yard, we would love to give her one.  Since going to the park isn't something that we can do everyday, all the time, we decided to improvise a little.  At her Mother's Morning Out program and at some play places we go to, they have rice tables that are similar to playing with sand.  Yesterday, I bought Lynley a fun bucket with lots of toys for the beach/sandbox and she was so ecstatic to play with them.  So, we decided to buy a big ole bag of rice and make her a small rice box in the house.   It is quite messy and we only play in the kitchen.  We have upgraded since last night from a towel to a sheet but the love manages to get rice on the kitchen floor anyway.  She is LOVING playing with it!!!  The joys of childhood....