Sunday, July 10, 2011

No suitcases being packed today...


Really missing the buoyancy of swimming, along with the amazing ability to make me feel skinny or at least not swollen...
This is day 8 that Bella is still angry at Grandma Dee. When we ask her if she'd like to go swimming, she quickly replies "no Dee is mean!"

My Mother is over the top with rude comments, snippy remarks and constant yelling at the kids. Joe and I figured they loved her enough to ignore most of these pesky traits, but I guess Bella has reached her max and Remi is even siding with her. Which is amazing considering she keeps my nephew most weekdays and Remi emulates him down to a scary T.

So, this leaves me wondering what I should do over the failed relationship. I wish it was easy enough to just talk it over with my Mother, but that is not the case with a giant exclamation mark.

Is it my job as a Mother to keep my daughters bond with her grandparents strong? Or, is it as simple as, she doesn't enjoy being around her, end of story?

Guess, I'll wait it out a while longer and in the meantime, I will be filling up our kiddie pool out back and awkwardly sitting my giant butt in it while the kids splash around me.

Friday, July 8, 2011

Still on the yellow kick

Two blogs - one day- how 'bout them apples...

I just had to share one more story,

As I've talked about before, Remi loves all things yellow, including yellow dogs. Yesterday as I was flipping over emails, Remi was peeking over my shoulder watching everything. So we watched a few videos.
One about an alligator and her babies, another about a 350 lb black bear in Virginia and a dancing hippo. Then Remi asked to see dogs.
Petfinder.com just happens to be saved in our bookmarks...Not yours?

Gladstone Animal Shelter is the first one to always pull for us, since we are so close and you would never believe me when I tell you this, but the first dog to show was a one yr old yellow lab, named Yellow. Unbelievable really. Remi was immediately in love! This was his picture

So, this morning after going to the park, we drove over to the animal shelter in hopes of 'only' meeting Yellow. Thankfully, the dog had been reunited with his family and was no longer available.

When I tucked the two kids in bed tonight and asked them what their favorite part of the day was, Remi said the animal shelter, looking at the dogs that wanted to come home and Bella said looking for Yellow.

Remi started to look really sad again over the mention of Yellow, until something sparked and he said,

"I'm going to ask Santa for a yellow puppy for Christmas. Not you Mom, cause Santa only answers kids and if you ask, he'll say no, but if I ask, he'll say yes."


Oh, my goodness!

Just like the Berenstain Bears

Remi and Bella have both decided they want bunk beds, just like the Berenstain Bears. Remi has even decided that Bella should have the top (we will just ignore the fact she has a bleeding disorder & CP) and he should have the bottom, the same as Brother and Sister bear. We read these books pretty often and the kids think of themselves as each bear. Many times while I'm reading, I'll even change their names to Remi and Bella's. After doing a quick search on prices, we were a little leery to jump out and buy some without a little further testing.
The kids are both such different sleepers. Bella wakes up early, Remi loves to sleep in. Bella never moves at night, Remi looks like a tornado visits him nightly.

So, to test the wishes of both kids we have moved Bella's twin bed into Remi's room and placed them side by side.

Last night was the first night of our experiment and it actually went fairly well. There was a lot of giggling and initial getting up, but eventually both went to sleep and slept all night.
It was endearing to see the two of them together, bonding over babies (stuffed animals), whispers of monsters and ghosts, and helping each other calm down to fall asleep.

Tonight, I wasn't sure what to expect since Dad was working and we had a huge day of activities.
I tucked them both into bed with promises not to get up, then closed the door, but right before the door closed, Remi asked if it was okay if they talked for a little while. I said yes, but only whispers and not for very long. They both said okay and so far, so good.

I haven't heard a peep from either one (finding wood to knock on).

Not only is this adorable that they want to sleep together, but it also answers our question of where we were going to put the new baby when she came.

With both kids, it was a pretty strict rule, that Mom & Dad's room, was just that. Only on rare occasions (like maybe 3 times) have one or the other slept with us and it's usually only when puking is involved.
So, needless to say, I have been stressed over how we were going to manage having a baby sleep in our room and for how long.
The other good news, is that this idea of the two kids sharing a room is completely their ideas and has happened with still a few good months to work out any kinks, so hopefully by this fall, it will be no biggie to move a baby bed into Bella's old room.