Sisters

Too Much Fun, Too Little Time

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In lieu of a party with friends Averi chose to go to Great Wolf Lodge for her birthday. The two older girls have gone before but Averi whom just recently learned to swim was finally brave enough and tall enough to join in on the fun.

But first…more cake and wishes.

The girls were so excited to pack for our getaway! They wanted to bring toys, stuffies, pillows and their own blankets. Basically everything in their room. And then we witnessed pigs flying when Averi asked to go to bed early so departure time would come sooner. Ah, we never grow out of that excitement do we?

Listen, we are not a fan of car rides. Three girls in the backseat for longer than a quick jaunt is torture for most anyone. Until we are ready to hunker down on a long drive or a flight, we will commit to a quick drive up Interstate 5. One hour in the car and we were there by noon. Luckily we were able to get into the water park long before our room was ready. Not being our first rodeo, we took in just what we needed (aka swimsuits, money and whatever the kids must have) and left the rest of our shit in the car.

Equipped with their Paw Passes and wolf ears, we dove in to what would be a great two days of fun!

Once we found a spot to call “home base”, we dropped our towels and shoes and went over the rules. Then the older girls went off and we took Averi on her first real waterslide.

Nope, not fun at all. SO FUN!

Canyon River Run was the one ride ALL five of us could go on together and we did, many times.

This was the first time in my life as a mom that I felt comfortable giving the girls their freedom without worrying every other second. They were so independent and it made it that much more fun.

We did it all and they didn’t complain and they didn’t tire.

The ten year olds even went on Wolf’s Tail, on their own. This ride is where the the bottom drops out from under you sending you straight down the slide.

Of course I had to follow them back up to record the bravery.

Enclosed in a capsule, then the countdown begins.. 3-2-1

We almost closed the park down and by 7:30 pm we had to tell the girls if they wanted to do anything else, we had to move on.

After a quick change up in the room, we went on a hunt for magic and pizza.
While we waited for our food, the girls hopped around the hotel doing whatever magic game is so popular amongst the kids.

The magic quest wand even moved objects in the girl’s kid cabin.

Around 10:30, it was quiet and then I heard a small voice that said “I have a night light for you”. I thought to myself what? Who said that? And then Kaili came out and asked the same thing. F sakes. I climbed up and unplugged whatever I could see in the dark not to wake the others. It turned out that one of the wands must have summoned the critters of the lodge, sigh.

I prefer my rooms not to talk thank you. And I am pretty sure, nope I am positive that I would have NOT liked that as a child.

It was a late night but luckily they let us sleep until 7:00 in the morning (big deal you guys!). Then we were up and ready to go do it again.

{One tip I can give you; if you have a trip to GWL on your radar It’s this, bring food, there is a fridge in the room. And, pre-order on their app or walk out of the hotel and find something to your liking. Because the lines are ridiculous and it’s terribly overpriced.}

The next morning we were at the waterpark as it opened and we knocked out all of the best rides as many times as we could before the crowd grew bigger.

Hours and hours of rides and I was beat. Averi and I did one last ride together and the slide shot us down the chute backward, we flipped and that was about it for me.

Shawna and I went out into the sun for a bit and then before we knew it, lunch came and went.

The girls Paw Pass came with: a magic quest wand, a glitter tattoo, goggles, candy from the candy shop and a build a bear stuffy. So we had to get them out of the water if they wanted to claim the rest of their goodies. We did, they did.

Two hours later and full of candy, we headed home.

Nothing like the comedown from a high, am I right or am I right?

It affects everyone differently!

Home is Where the Kids Are

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Kaili was very excited to have mommy and daddy back home. She wouldn’t leave my side for a good two days. We were a bit jet lagged, the time change was only four hours but our  red eye flight, not getting a full nights sleep and bloody Mary’s first thing in the morning didn’t really help our cause.

Back to school sickness hit Kaili right before we got home and then it was passed to Averi who has an ugly cough. It took a few days for all of us to get back into the routine but I think we are all settled in pretty well.

Shane picked up Wags at the airport a few days after we got home. Kaili was eager to see his medals.

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I think they suit her.

We spent the weekend being homebodies, enjoying the weather and each other.

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Dinner and music outside, Kaili loves to dance to her favorite songs.

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She also loves this dress, today is the third straight day she has worn it. I may have let her wear it to school to avoid a fight. I need to wash it and tuck it away somewhere for a week or two.

 

 

 

 

Keeping Busy

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Kaili has two more weeks at her school and then she is out for summer. I finished her Kinder paperwork which I have been procrastinating on. She is up to date with her school vaccinations but she still needs to have a doctor fill out a medical record and apparently they want the same done with her dentist.Two things that are easy to want to push aside, but I finally made appointments to get it done.

We have been watching a lot of soccer with the Copa America going on. Kaili picked out a new shirt to wear for our viewing pleasure.

How do you like that garden back there? We have been eating a lot of sweet tomatoes, plenty of  zucchini and we have six baby artichokes on the way.

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I have been taking Averi to the park in the mornings without K so I can focus on playing one on one with her. She is not as adventurous as her sister was but slowly she is starting to test her fear.

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Can you believe she is going to be two in less than a month? Ya, me either. She looks up to her sister, has to do whatever it is Kaili is doing, eating, watching you name it. It’s what I always wanted with siblings but it’s also very draining.

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The girls were  invited to a birthday party out in Ramona last weekend. The land you can have out there is attractive to me but then again you are out in Ramona which isn’t attractive at all, to me.

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We try to stop at a winery or two when we are out there. This time we tried one that had recently opened. It had a great outside area, live music and luckily some decent wine. The girls  spent most of their time chasing the dog around. The little winery Chihuahua was the hit until she stole Averi’s chocolate chip cookie and booked it across the lot. Averi was more stunned than upset and I was more worried about the tiny dog eating a whole cookie, but the owners weren’t phased. Must happen often.

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Dragging my Feet

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What can I say, I have been a horrible blogger lately. I will blame it on the Avester. Every time I stand by my computer contemplating on writing, she is at my heels yelling “Mama, mama, mama, UP UP UP!” It’s ear piercing and nerve-racking.  I end up picking her up and wandering away from the computer.

Averi is now 19 months and quite the handful. She prefers her meals on the go, something I told myself I would never let her do. Wandering around with food, what good can come of it. Well, it keeps her quiet, let’s me get stuff done and puts meat on her bones, so for now, I just go with it.

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Photo by Brian Kerr

Kaili just ended her first month of soccer. She seemed to really enjoy it so I signed her up for another month.  She also started up swimming again, this time it’s at a swim school opposed to the YMCA. But once a week isn’t frequent enough so I am hoping to up it to twice a week. We need this girl swimming.

IMG_7399As I write this, it’s sprinkling outside but the last couple weeks we have been spoiled with amazing weather. I have spent almost everyday outside reading in the sun and then spending the afternoon playing in the backyard with the girls.

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We spent Valentines day as a family eating chocolate, popping in and out of the hot tub, sun bathing and watching Shane work in the backyard. More on that later. Kaili had a school party and enjoyed scouring through her mound of cards and candy.

Kaili and one of her besties.
Kaili and one of her besties.

Shane and I treated ourselves to some King crab for dinner and then I tried making chocolate soufflés for dessert. They didn’t turn out as I expected, the lava cakes I make are much more decadent. Next year, I will go back to making those.

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Sisters

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Averi is 11 months old today, more on that soon. Kaili has turned a corner in her maturity and it’s awesome and scary at the same time. We moved her kid table into her room and now she can do her activities at our dining room table. She spends a good amount of time in her room playing by herself…(A dream I never thought would happen.) Last week I let her stay up until 8:30 (GASP) to finish Frozen. I thought maybe she will sleep later than normal but no, she woke up at 6: AM.Bullshit.

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 Isn’t she beautiful? Little sister, just as cute, has been making this weird face. I love it and luckily strangers adore it.

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Kaili moved from the 3 year old class to the 4 year old class this past week. Luckily her bestie moved up with her, that made it an easy transition. Along with gymnastics I am hoping to sign her up for a two week swim class at a new pool this month.

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Kaili is mostly nice to sister but not really. She is really starting to piss me off with the way she goes out of her way to poke, prod and irritate little sis. She is spending a lot more time “thinking” these days…sigh. They will be besties soon right?

10 Months

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Averi is 10 months old and I can’t say its been easy. She is waking up at night again and has NOT slept past 6:00 am it seems in weeks. She is whiny, clingy and cries if I put her down, walk away or even look in a different direction.

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She looks so cute and happy there doesn’t she. Well really, it’s all a ruse. This is how she usually looks, at least when no one else is around.

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In her defense, she is getting two more teeth, so that probably isn’t helping. She has also mastered pulling herself up on furniture or anything sturdy or not. But she is afraid to sit back down because she has bumped her chin a couple of times. This is a big problem, huge problem. She will be happy and crawling around then she will reach the couch and pull herself up and then cry. Then someone, usually me will go to her and help her sit back down and she will cry even harder. This continues all day long. She does the same thing in her crib, so that’s how that goes.I think she just wants to walk and strut around the house like she owns the place and honestly I will welcome that if it stops the crying.

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She isn’t the best eater. She doesn’t like anything other than purees and yogurt, I am wondering if it’s a texture issue. She turned her nose at avocado and mashed banana, and sweet potato bits. So I haven’t gone out of my way to try much else. She touches the food and then makes a face and wipes her hands on her clothes. Aca-awesome. She does love her baby crackers, puffs and cheerios, probably because they aren’t mushy or sticky, or who the hell knows. I am not going to worry about it until she turns 1.

Kaili is a pretty good big sister but she is super territorial and doesn’t want to share any of her toys with Averi but Averi HAS to share her toys with her because…duh. But when Averi is crying Kaili will bust out singing “Hush little baby” and Averi stops, at least for a minute. I finally googled the rest of the lyrics to that song, and what baby wants cart and bull?

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These two, I love them to the moon but they do a good job keeping me on my toes.

The Constant

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You know what parenting two kids is? It’s constant…non-stop, sometimes wonderful, other times not so wonderful constancy. It’s a perpetual motion tending to both of them on my own and I have two easy (so far) kids. The hardest part is when they tag team me at 5:00 in the morning. Kaili has been waking up super early and it only seems to happen when Shane isn’t home.

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Averi is almost 6 weeks old and is different day to day. She eats about every 2-4 hours during the day, at night its anybody’s guess. I try to be consistent putting her down around 8:30-9:00. Some nights she wakes up 3 hours later on.the.dot, and others  she will go a nice long stretch waiting until 2:00 or 3:00am. The latter is happening more often and it’s dreamy.

When she’s awake, she wants to be snuggled. A little tummy time here, a little swing time there but then its into my arms. Put here in the stroller or the car and she passes out like a frat boy after a kegger and she will stay asleep.

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Since she is an easy traveler we have been getting out a lot on the weekends, car shows, festivals, wine tasting and lunches.

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San Diego Bay *photo courtesy of Brian Kerr

 

Considering Averi should have only been here 18 days ago, It’s been nice to be able to enjoy summer a little longer than I had expected. Soon it will fade away and Fall will be peeking around the corner.

 

A Week in Photos

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Whoa, Monday slapped me in the face this morning. I knew it was coming, I was prepared as can be but of course both girls didn’t sleep as well as they normally do. It’s like they know...

If you can believe it, I was a tad hesitant to make a final decision on our embryos. Not that I want to have another child, I don’t even think my Dr. would go for it…but getting rid of them is just so FINAL. But for obvious reasons we did go ahead and donate them to training.

 

 

We took Kaili to a little carnival in town. She wanted to go on every ride even though she wasn’t tall enough for the majority of them. Some of the Carnies weren’t strict so she managed to get on more than she probably should have.

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And of course she rode a pony, always ride the pony.

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We have been walking home from her new school, it sure beats the car.

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She has the maternal instinct, she is a natural caregiver.

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Shane and Gordon fixed the gas leak in our fire pit, now it’s good as new and ready for Fall.

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We became wine members at Blue Door Winery. They just opened 6 weeks ago, they are close and kid friendly.

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This face is getting chubbier by the day.

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Kaili met a bunny at the car show in National City, she also met a baby chick and a duck. Then somehow she got ahold of an egg and dropped it on her coloring page so we high tailed it out of there.

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Sisters.

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It was so nice having Shane home but it’s back to reality. Soon I hope to pack the girls up and head up to Ventura to spend a few days at the beach. I guess for now it’s time to get back into our new routine of life.