Christmas!!

Another - girl with curly hair. Like Sylvie's

She's getting really good at drawing people. This is a girl with a really pretty dress on.

Santa Sylvie

She dressed herself this morning.

We picked out out Christmas tree yesterday. We did not get a 'snow' covered tree - but Sylvie sure did like then. She was in a winter wonderland!

Santa!

This year Sylvie was super excited to see Santa! Wade- a little cranky- it was nap time. Not too shabby overall , though!

Sylvie and I- both at three years old

What a great Thanksgiving with our Texas family

Today I am thankful for all my friends and family.

And my princess

And my ladies man

Looks like someone didn't get the week of work. Poor wade.

Lady Killer.
I picked Wade up from daycare yesterday. He had just been put down from the arms of the high school girl the daycare has helping them in the afternoons. Wade see's me, cries, turns around and puts his arms up for the girl to pick him up- and she does. He then leans in for a kiss and kisses her on the cheek. THEN he puts his arms out for me to take him.
Oh Wade- he loves his ladies.

A Sunday afternoon at PDK

Sucker

I am a sucker for tradition- and this one is just leaving me $50 down the tubes. We went to get the kids silhouette's done, just like every feel I MUST do every year. They look like the kids- but the kids also look like they are age 4 and 6. hmph. I wonder how many years Ralph will put up with me doing this!

They Just Can't Coexist

I only want one thing at this point in my life. It is a picture of my two beautiful children together- happy and smiling. A picture where neither child is pulling on the other, trying to get in my arms, or crying. What, dear god, do I have to do to accomplish this?
The following is a display of my failure.

Easter 2011. What is Sylvie doing, giving Wade the Heimlich??

Mother's Day 2011


August 2011

Sylvie's Third Birthday. Not happening.
...the most recent. Beach trip 2011. sigh.

Gender

Sylvie is learning the difference between boy's and girl's. Our conversation the other day:
Sylvie: Mama, you're a girl.
Mama: That's right Sylvie.
S: Daddy, you're a boy!
Mama: That's correct. And Sylvie, what is Wade?
S: Wade...I think.... Wade is a Big Boy.

Three.

I took Sylvie to get her hair cut for the first time last week. I was a bit apprehensive, she has been a little bit of a devil recently. I was not sure how she would act with someone cutting her hair. So I prepped her and decided to take her one night when she was in a good mood and my parenting confidence was high (it is RARE when all these things line up. I had to take advantage of it!). There were two kids in front of us. She occupied herself by laying around on the floor of the salon, playing catch with her doll and me, and running around. I tried to keep her in one area of the room. I only got a few looks from the other mom that was there.
Finally it was Sylvie’s turn. She went right up to the hairdresser and choose the Buzz Lightyear car to sit in. She acted so grown up, I couldn’t believe it. Sylvie turned her head every way the hairdresser asked. She listened and was quite and in awe. The whole time she had her little pout face on that she was born with. Here in front of me sat the exact person that used to be my baby, but she was all grown up. I took one million pictures, of course, and I cannot get over how her little face looks so young when just minutes before she was looking so old to me. Yes, there were tears in my eyes. How am I going to make it as she grows older, if I cannot even handle a hair cut??
This girl will be three on Monday. She has no more baby fat, except in her cheeks at some angles. She is tall. She fake laughs. She talks all the time. She loves and hugs and kisses. She still takes care of her dolls. She now goes to bed with no problems (JINX). She pushes her brother. She knows how to use my (her) iPad better than I do. She recognizes letters and numbers. She knows her name begins with an S. She loves happy birthdays. She specifically asked for a Barbie Princess bike for her birthday. She doesn’t eat dinner but wants a banana (bobana) an hour later.

Sylvie-isms

I need to start writing this stuff down!

Bananas are BaBanas. So Cute.

She was so thrilled that I painted her toe nails bright pink that she thanked me three times in the span of an hour.

Everything has to do with birthdays. Every dress she owns is her birthday dress.

Daddy is her friend. (She informed me I was her friend the other day, finally).

I met Wade-o one year ago today. He completed my little family and my heart. He brings happiness, sensitivity and danger into our home. This was all foretold the second he was born when Ralph and I were elated with the happiness of his birth, warmed by his sweetness and scared to death by his silence. He is a trooper and has taught me patience, understanding and love all over again. He has also giving the greatest gift to Sylvie and made her a big sister. Happy Birthday to our little (ha…) Wade!

My dear Wade, I love everything about you. The things about you that I never want to forget are (I am sure this list will grow as I think of more):

the way you cry until you get your bottle in the morning. the way you tummy is always showing. the way you look like a 2 year old in size. your laugh and squint-y smile eyes (smize). the way you love when your sister hugs you. your fearlessness when climbing the chair in our living room. your pout-y bottom lip. your sensitivity when you know we are talking about you. the way you get upset when you are not eating the same food we are eating. the way you let me hold you at night (please don't ever stop this!). the way you go right to sleep at 7pm. the way you play in your crib until sylvie wakes up in the morning. the way you splash in the bath. the way you only say dada (hinthint). your love of all things firetruck. your small feet. your beautiful blue eyes. your low crawl. the way you have turned into a little boy these past two weeks, and not just a baby.

Sylvie

2 years and 9 months old

is potty trained! (jinx....)

-except at night and nap time

I take no applause for potty training my child- thank you day care!
Her favorite phrases are : 'no', 'i know', 'not you', and 'oh man'

loves to play outside after dinner

Princess and the Frog is out- is into Toy Story now

Thankfully she is over her Barney phase (also thankfully it went FAST)

doesn't like to go to bedwakes up screaming at least once a night

tries to talk us into letting her sleep in our bed every night

still doesn't like to go to school

is shy

plays by herself mostly (when do I need to worry about this?)

loves to make her brother laugh

can get dressed herself- with prompting

loves bathtime!

doesn't like to eat dinner too much anymore

her favorite foods are pizza, broccoli, rottisserie chicken, cheese, pancakes

wears size 2t-4t clothes and size 7 shoes

has enough clothes and shoes to wardrobe 3 kids

can't wait for our beach vacay

is still the sweetest girl i know

gets frustrated a lot

moves around to much/ fast to get her picture taken!

wants to be a princess

b/c of Tivo- thinks she can watch any show she wants at anytime

loves to play with my iPad. I am amazed she knows exactly what to do with it and how to turn it on

is the most beautiful girl i have ever seen!

Wade

11 months and 1 week old

has ear tubes and i feel like he can hear so much better!

started saying other phrases, occasionally, besides dada

somes mama sometimes, when he is upset mostly

has blue eyes

loves to go swinging!

has two teeth and two molars coming in at once

bit his finger so hard it bled last night, bc of his painful teething

not gonna lie, i feel bad for the little guy

-has is 5th stomach virus

has his first birthday party in 3 1/2 weeks!

loves to laugh

cries after his last bottle of the day

goes to bed easily

wakes up at least once a night

loves to torment his sister already

mostly plays with girly, pink toys

splashes in the bathtub

pulls my hair

is a handful, will not sit still!

is a tad bit sensitive

Signs of Summer

The first sign of Summer- it's too hot already. Not sure I will make it. :)
Sylvie likes to play outside at all hours of the day. Now that she is old enough I can just open the sliding door and send her out to our backyard. She usually takes the kitty and one of her dolls. Christmas Baby is her favorite right now. They go everywhere together.
Obviously we are original when naming the dolls. Sylvie already had a baby named Baby when she got this doll for Christmas, so we named her Christmas Baby. We also have a Laylie, which is just 'baby' before Sylvie could say 'baby' properly.

Wade gets really upset when Sylvie is outside and he is not. He cries at the screen door till I give in and go outside, and melt, with them.

Updates

Sylvie

2 years & 7 mo old

goes to the potty at school and doesn't wear pull ups at school- home is another story

talks in full sentences

is bossy, funny, polite and sweet

doesn't take care of her dollies as much anymore, but stil loves them

wants to watch Princess and the Frog all the time

loves taking baths

pulls her hair :(

goes to bed at 8pm now, and runs to it

gives hugs, kisses and says 'i love you' w/o prompting!

plays by herself a lot

might be a litte shy

her favorite food is pizza

loves birthday's

sings all the time- her favorite song is Wheels on the Bus

likes to run

we go to the swingset after dinner most nights

talks to wade when they wake up in the morning

her size 2t clothes are starting to not fit! moving up to size 3t

still wears size 6 shoes

still LOVES shoes

love hair bows, but plays with them too much and doesn't keep them in

has just started to run into her day care room- and hug her teachers. it only took about a year for her to do that

in the morning still does not want to go to school though

Wade-o

9 mo and three weeks old

stands, assisted

walks, assisted with toys

has extreme seperation anxeity! :(

is getting ear tubes next week!

loves to eat, duh.

has started to eat the same food we have for dinner, which means we make foods with no dairy or soy

has been waking up at 2am shrieking. ugh!

doesn't eat much at daycare

is still in the little baby room, bc he shrieks when put in the big baby room. he loves his ladies.

loves his big sister

has started taking toys away from her while she is playing with them. (he learned this from her)

likes it when mama sings to him and reads to him

has the best laugh

he is very sensitive, cries when we tell him 'no'

loves to snuggle

wears size 12 mo clothes barely, i put him in 18mo so he has some room

still has no shoes

takes his socks off and eats them

Confucious Say......

I think we are confusing the poor girl. Ralph and I think it is extremely important to be polite. Sylvie has said some form of ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ since before she was one year old. Ralph has been trying to step it up for awhile. He wants her to ask for things not only politely, but in a sentence. He enforces (barely) this rule at dinner time. When she is done eating and we have forced her sufficiently to eat enough (again, barely), she must ask to be excused. This is a highlight of my night. It goes like this:

Sylvie: Iiiiiiiiim done (she is a whiner. That is my next project- get her to stop whining!)
Ralph: what do you say?
Sylvie: (big smiles and laughs)
Ralph: Are you ready to be excused?
Sylvie: yes. I want to go play.
Ralph: Sylvie- say ‘may I please’
Sylvie: may I please
Ralph: ‘be excused’
Sylvie: scuse me!
Ralph: now say it in a sentence
Sylvie: ina sentence

Nooooot reeeeally what he is going for. But it’s too cute so we let her go. I think it is becoming a problem though- because I catch her saying please follow by ‘ina sentence’ when she wants something.

Whoops.

Sylvie- recent pics

This girl is so hard to take pictures of now that she is constantly moving. I think I got some goods one's recently.

Wade and his Tools

Gross

On bath nights I let Wade go hog wild with his dinner. He is certainly a messy eater.

The Harrison family has not had a couch for awhile. We got rid of our 1960's gold velvet couch about a year ago. It was worthless. I had to sit on two pillows just to make it somewhat comfortable. So...my WONDERFUL sis and bro -in- law have given us their couch (after they sell their condo *contact me if you want info*). I am dreaming of this couch. I am also dreaming of how to redecorate our family room around the couch (all in dreams). I will have to start small- that room needs a lot of help. So I have been looking at thow pillows. I found this one on line

http://kstudiohome.myshopify.com/products/family-series-pillows

and fell in love with it. You can customize it to match your own family! My favorite thing about it? One of the family members can be a BUNNY.

How perfect is that for my little Sylvie bunbun? The little baby is pretty cute too.

I refuse to pay $150 for a pillow though- so if someone wants to make this for me feel free :)

Bully or just Two years old?

This is what Sylvie came home from school looking like yesterday. There was an incident report and a boy went home. Apparently they both went for the same toy and his nails needed to be cut. I saw him this morning with his mommy when I dropped Sylvie off. I made sure she got a good look at my daughters face.

no hands

Last night Sylvie was running around naked except for Princess and the Frog undies. Ralph and I were trying to get her to wear anything so we got out her bathrobe. Ralph said he was going to put in on the kitty if she didn't want to wear it. Her response?

'Mama! Kitties don't have hands!'

Obstacle Course

The long awaited video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBbMhR2xE1Q


Wade is getting ready for the military already. He is crawling and it resembles a military low crawl. He uses his right arm to pull himself forward and his left arm is tucked into his chest. His left elbow/ forearm acts as a stump and propells him. The whole time his belly is on the floor. His legs, straigt and barely moving.

After dinner he will low crawl around all over our living room. It's like watching a marine at booth camp! He low crawls to the bouncy and over the base and under it. Ralphs shouts 'keep your head down marine!'. Then he rolls on out and over to Sylvie's little table. He will stop for some brain build excersices and hand eye coordinatin excersies along the way (like picking up old cheerio's off the floor). The whole way he is grunting. It is hilarious. Hopefully one day I will have the camera ready.

Sylvie was a gimpy crawler as well.....

http://ralphkarenandthebaby.blogspot.com/2009/06/sylvie-can-crawl.html

It's the little things

Mama: 'Sylvie, we are having pizza tonight. You're favorite!'
Sylvie (upset and whiney): 'I don't waaaant pizza. I want Donalds.'
Mama: 'Really? And what would you get from McDonalds?'
Sylvie: 'napkins'

The next day on the way to Rochelle and Sassans house:
Mama: 'Sylvie, do you want chicken nuggets from McDonald's or a burger with cheese?'
Sylvie: 'noooooooooo'
Mama: 'okay. What would you like?'
Sylvie: 'I want Uncle Sassan'

Also, Don't judge me on our weekend food choices. :)

Oh Wade!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkaNcybIbxo&feature=youtube_gdata_player

I'm Amazing

(take this with a grain of salt please)

Article found here:http://www.mops.org/page.php?pageid=2973&srctype=body&src=647&PHPSESSID=d19e1bde479c7dc9d19a0529b4f24c2d

I'm Amazing



By Ocieanna Fleiss

I heard it first at Starbucks. I ordered “calm” tea (needed it). When the barista, a cute, funky little thing, dropped in the teabag, she forgot to secure the string. The tail landed ploink in the hot water. “I’m a little brain dead today,” she said. “But don’t worry, I’m amazing.” She smiled mischievously (not unlike my 2-year-old son). “A little conceited,” she added, “but amazing.”

I traipsed to my table, and as I sat cherishing my alone time, she had the other baristas giggling. “I’m amazing,” she repeated, flitting from one task to the next. Later that night, my husband snickered at me for knocking over a glass of water on my nightstand. With supreme confidence, I rolled over, whacked him with my pillow and said, “I’m amazing.” It felt really good. So I found opportunities to say it again and again. All week I flaunted my “amazingness.” My husband actually liked the confidence I showed.

Maybe because I don’t feel amazing all the time, saying it out loud helped me remember the amazing person I am. And truth is, I am amazing. Look at everything I do as a mom. (And think about all you do, too.)

I’m a runny-nose wiper, boo-boo kisser, teardrop-blotter, mac-and-cheese cooker, dolly-fixer, jammie-zipper, Lego-picker-upper and on and on and on. But more importantly, it’s my job to mold young characters.

I strive to train my wee ones to be kind, polite and responsible and to trust God. I attempt to build their confidence by loving them. I snuggle on the sofa reading “Guess How Much I Love You” one more time. I shower them with “Great jobs!” and “You did its!” I kneel on the carpet constructing block castles for Cinderella and bat caves for caped crusaders. After every exhausting day, I hold my children in my arms and send up prayers, then kiss them good night . . . night after night. Sound familiar?

Yep, I’m amazing.

But then … I have a bad day. Hormones might trigger it or an irritable word at breakfast with my husband. Before I know it, I’m growling, grumping and even yelling at the kids. Amazing? Not me.

On one such rotten day, I got my four kids pottyed, washed, shoed and jacketed (a pleasant experience for all of us — ha!). Then we scrambled into the minivan for a trip to the grocery store. I hollered, “Settle down!” countless times and issued a final warning, “Don’t make me pull this car over!” Then I threw in a kids’ Scripture CD, thinking it would help them behave. And I heard this: “I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well.” PSALM 139:14 (NASB)

Then it hit me. Sometimes I fail. Sometimes I do better. But whether I’m being a crummy mom or the perfect mom doesn’t change who I am. God made me — fearfully and wonderfully. That’s why I’m amazing.

And so are you!

Ocieanna Fleiss is an amazing mommy of four and serves in her MOPS Group in Auburn, Washington. She has written and edited for several publications.


This article originally appeared in the May/June 2007 issue of MomSense magazine.

8 mo

Wade at 8mo
Is mobile. completely.
eats puffs and smashed foods
say's dada
Still constantly watches his big sister
laughs unstoppably
looks like a 12 mo old
sleeps from 7pm to 7am :)
wears 12 mo- 18 mo clothing.
doesn't wear shoes
loves to snuggle
doesn't like his mama to be out of site
has fun at daycare
doesn't like to go out- he is the best baby until we go somewhere
let's us know when he is hungry
wears size 4 diapers
drinks water occasionally
has four top front teeth
has two bottom teeth
still has blue eyes!
has lily white skin
screeches
sleeps on his tummy
sucks his thumb
is loved by all he meets

There is a light at the end of the tunnel!

About 9mo ago Sylvie began her terrible two’s. This was a dark time in the Harrison household. I rarely took my daughter out in public, and when I did I prepared myself for public embarrassment. I have often wondered- why are every else’s kids so well behaved in the mall, in the daycare parking lot, at the playground, etc? I finally realized that I never saw any kids Sylvie’s age out (I think I just told myself this to make me feel better…).
But alas…I must say this last week has been enjoyable! Now I know what you are thinking….Karen, it’s only been a week…..but I think this is the start of a brand new Sylvie! She is communicating wonderfully and I believe that is the main ingredient for temper tantrums- not being able to express yourself the way you want. Now that she is older she can tell what she needs or wants- no worries. I am looking forward to spending more time with my daughter again!

The Boy

WADE

Def. A boy. An Entity. Someone who is greatly loved.

n. This is my son, The Wade

Def. To be. To roll. To wait. To wade. To cry. To sleep. To crawl. To eat. To smile.

V. Instead of rolling, my son ‘wades’ around

V. My son hates to ‘wade’ on his mommy to make his dinner

Def. high pitched

Adv. He ‘Wadeily’ cried for me to not leave him

Def. Big.

Adj. He was born very Wadish!

Adj. Wow, he is Wade!

Cliche's

We were watching it snow on Christmas day and Sylvie exclaimed 'Look- Christmas Flowers!'

We had a wonderful but very cliche Christmas- We had a white Christmas and Wade literally got his two front teeth Christmas day! Apparently Atlanta has not had a white Christmas in more than 100 Years. However, I remember very clearly a white Christmas sometime in the early 80's. I remember this because I fell down our front steps covered in ice and I got a rabbit fur coat (fake of course). And the ground was covered in snow- but it did NOT snow on Christmas that year. The weather reporters were saying that to have a white Christmas- it has to snow on Christmas. So this was my first ever white Christmas. Very magical.

Also- the definition of White Christmas- that's to Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Christmas

Snowmen are everywhere

Sylvie has been coughing a lot recently- we deal with this every winter. This year is a little different, she has been coughing so much that she throws up! It is not pleasant for any of us. Now that she knows what throw up is, she walks around telling everyone NOT to throw up. Her dollies are not to throw up, she tells Wade and mommy and daddy not to throw up all the time. Wade does throw up constantly (welcome to my life....) so she is constantly worrying for him and telling him it is okay.
One morning before school- the week before Christmas- I was changing Wade's diaper on the changing table getting them ready for the day. She was standing beside me and started coughing. I was mid diapering so I could not help her immediately and she threw up on the floor. I told her it was okay and not to move- I would clean her up in a second. So she is staring at her throw up, upset, and she looks at it and say's "that's a snowman."
Sure enough, she threw up in the shape of a snowman.