Don't stop believing!

Don't stop believing!
Originally uploaded by tigermatt

My girls love Journey - though they prefer the Glee version. (They call it the Duh duh duh song) because thats how the glee cast starts the song out. Well Journey doesnt really do that, but the girls add it in anyway.

The video is shaky becasuse i am turned around in the car and trying not to blind them with the flash from the camera, but cute nonetheless

Cheerleader in the making

Cheerleader in the making
Originally uploaded by tigermatt

This is Leah screaming War Eagle as she prepares to be at the top of a pyramid one day.

Hannah... Well Hannah was brainwashed momentarily by a neighbor who was playing with her. Dont listen to the bad words coming out of her mouth. That was your "explicit language" warning. If you cant understand her... well good.

When Leah was in Mommy's belly

One for the books. The conversation went like this.

Leah: when I was in your belly, I was a little bitty baby.

Me: yes. Do you remember being in mommys belly?

Leah: yes. I had a blanket and a pillow in there.

Me: yeah? Have you seen pictures of you when you were in my belly? What did mommy look like?

Leah: a cow.

Cookie tantrum

My little Hannah is a sweetheart. She is loving, and motherly, and would do anything for you. But she is stubborn as is her sister. Matt and I always say we combined the Sizemore and McCay stubbornness to make this super stubborn force. That is Hannah.

At dinner last night my sister was trying to get Hannah to say the word "cookie". "Too-ie" is how Hannah says it. Thanks LaLa for bringing up cookies while eating dinner.

Hannah of course asked for a cookie and I told her we didnt have any. "Yes we do!!" she cried, and ran to the dining room where I had forgotten we had some Buds Best Cookies individual bags. Their favorite is the Caco (oreo) so that they can lick the cream out and leave the cookies. We only had one bag. Hannah brought the little blue bag into the kitchen and promised to wait until after dinner. So Leah went to get hers and was upset to find we only had the butterfinger kind left. (Gasp!). Hannah grabbed the Cacos and took off running, with Leah in pursuit. When Hannah thought she had successfully hidden them, she came back to the table. Leah soon returned with Hannahs bag she got out of its hiding place.

And then came the tantrum. I told the girls they could share them after they ate. That was not good enough. Hannah went in desperate search for another bag and came up short. She was screaming something about not wanting the other cookies, and runs in the kitchen with a bag of the butterfingers and threw them dramatically in the trash. Away she went for more of those non creamed cookies and proceeded to throw those away as well.

Now I had been letting this go on out of slight amusement and seeing how the girls would work it out. They didnt. So I told Hannah "Dont throw away those cookies! They have candy in them!"

Leah said "I want candy cookies!" and walked over to Hannah and shoved the Caco bag in Hannahs hand, rescuing a butterfinger bag from Hannah in return.

And all was well.

Potty Training Tantrum

The girls have been potty trained for a while now when it comes to peeing. They VERY rarely have an accident and wear panties all the time. But they will not poop. I have bribed them with everything I can think of, (ie- they saw Toy Story and we promised them a big Woody doll if they pooped in the potty). Now all we hear is Hannah say to random people - "If I go poopoo in the potty I get a big Woody!", terrible as it sounds, and at which point I must explain that she is referring to Toy Story.

Anyway we have gone to pullups for naps, so she no longer gets her mid day poop in. (yes I am talking with a lot of potty words, oh well). She fights it but does not go in her pull up which is a step forward. But she has started complaining of a tummy ache after nap.

So the other night Hannah was telling me her tummy hurt. It was about 5:30 so it was nowhere near time for her bedtime diaper yet which she waits on. I told her she would have to go poopoo in the potty and then pulled both little frog potties out of the bathroom and offered to put them where she wanted.

She was not going to have it! Hannah erupted in a full blown tantrum demanding her diaper so she could poop. She kept going and getting one and bring it to me, and then would lay down in front of me so I could put it on. I took the ones she brought and went and got the packs we had and told her I was going to throw them all away. This made the tantrum worse and it was the end of the world kind of situation. I hid the diapers in the bathtub. I put her in her room since she was in hysterics on the floor.

She quieted down for a minute and I went in to try to talk to her. She was attempting to put the diaper on (from her secret stash?) over her shorts. I took that away and she started thrashing. I places her little frog potty in her room, told her if she needed to use the bathroom it was right there, and left her in the room to scream it out.

As I walked back to the kitchen I heard the door to her room open, a crashing sound in the hall, and then the door slam again (amidst her screaming for the diaper still). She had chunked her potty down the hall!! I went in with sad spoon and had to spank her for that, returned the potty to the room, and walked out again. And then she chunked the potty out of the room again! This time the frog first, and then the bowl. nice.

I of course had to return with sad spoon and the potty.

I am not sure how, but she eventually calmed down in there. She never gave in of course - that would be too easy. But she did come out and had dinner. I found the potty in her room 2 days later stuffed behind their big rocking chair.

I would like to note that we have bribed, coaxed, and threatened. I sat down on the potty with her. I have tried book, colors, and games on my phone. She will not even try. I have asked her why she doesnt want to, and she said she was scared, yet she pees just fine so I am not sure what to take of that.

I think I will buy those big Woody dolls and wrap them up nice and put them in the bathroom in hopes it may intrigue them enough to go...

Leah just tells me "diapers are for babies. I will poopoo on the potty later..."

CHant- THey will not go to kindergarten in diapers...

Laura's Luau cake

My sister turns 25 today and last night she had a luau party. She asked me to do the cake. It turned out pretty cute! I experimented with the icing since she wanted a strawberry cake so I made buttercream icing and added chopped strawberries. The sand is crushed golden Oreos. Yummy. I'll remember that combination! The girls "helped" with the cake through the entire duration of icing it. They were just in it for the spoonfuls of icing...
As we sang happy birthday - one of the twins' favorite past times, Leah showed great restraint as she sat centimeters from the giant cake eyeing it carefully. Impressive.
It was a very cute little party. Happy Birthday LaLa!

Big changes

This summer our wonderful 17 year old neighbor, cassidy, kept the girls again like she did last year. And it has been planned (again) that the girls would start daycare when "Cassy" went back to school. I was actually ok with this more than the other 10 times they almost started. The girls are almost 3 and we have been lucky to have been able to have a nanny this long. Something always seemed to work out right before they were to start and I would delay it once more.

While I was ok with them starting, I wasn't thrilled with it taking almost half my paycheck every month and so I'm working full time so we can afford daycare. It's frustrating as i know many of you know. I would stay home with them full time If I could but we just aren't quite there ( I had always been career driven til I had them!!)

Matt had been looking for a new job for a little bit and starts Monday with a company out of Ohio. Best thing is he gets to work from home! He got a good raise and a lot more family time. We are thrilled.

So I started thinking that I could really cut back my hours. Within a week I had interviewed and accepted another job - at Princeton hospital (not my familiar uab) BACK in the operating room. I'll only work 2 days a week as a flexi nurse til 2pm with a little call time involved. But I'll be on their heart surgery team so at least I'm familiar (I've done the worst of the worst cases- so I hope this is easy in comparison).

This all happened A week before the girls were to start daycare. I started looking for a mothers day out/ preschool and got them in one day a week. I'll get another day soon I hope. A friend is watching the girls the second day for now. This scenario would not have worked had matt not gotten a work from home job because now he can take and pick up. I'll be home before naps!

I have been wanting to be with my girls more during the week so much, and this will provide that. It's awful to have my babies beg me to stay home and snuggle when I have to go to work.

I had a perfect full time job but I am choosing time with family. I have 3 more years with them until they start school (late birthdays) and I am going to soak this time in. God has answered so many of our prayers and I am trusting Him to be with us through these new changes. We are definitely excited!!!

Now I have to call that daycare...again... And tell them nevermind...again. They've had my deposit since I was 18 weeks pregnant!!