Biggest Fan Ever.

Dani and Big Man have been listening to a lot of music together lately.  She's currently digging the Beatles.  Tonight when I came home from work, she whispered, "I'm not Dani.  I'm Paul."

 

It should come as no surprise that Tori is always Ringo.

When I took Dani to the store last weekend, she kept holding my hand in the aisle, and singing, "I wanna hold your ha-a-and, I wanna hold your hand."

She told me tonight she is their biggest fan ever.

Hey good lookin', whatcha got cookin'?

There are lots of nights that I have to prepare dinner, but I can't really trust the kids to be alone in the living room while I'm doing it.

So on those nights we break the "no kitchen" rule.  Dani and Tori set up shop on the floor and "cook" while I'm cooking.

Even Tommy's getting in on the game--he sits in a high chair and chomps on whatever he can get his hands on.

The girls are happily my taste-testers, making sure noodles are cooked, just making "cheep cheep" little birdie noises so I will feed them bites as I prepare dinner.  It's adorable.

Silly Dani quote of the day, "I'm doing my favorite thing, mommy, driving you crazy."

Bully in the making.

Little Tori is developing quite the little personality. Quite the tough guy personality. Maybe a sense of fearlessness just develops in the second kid because they are trying to catch up to the first kid.

Dani was always a cautious baby. She crawled and walked safe, short distances and if it looked risky, she'd crawl. Until one day, she walked and never really crawled again. No nasty falls, or boo boos, she just waited until she could do it well and then did. She began to crawl typically too--on her elbows like a little soldier.

Not so, our Tori. She was pushing herself up on all fours at 5 months--like she was trying to do military pushups. She never bothered with the elbow crawling, just straight arms, and lots of face plants until she got it. Last night, she tried to pull herself up on one of Dani's toys. The kid has no fear--with anything. You may recall that Dani had a love-hate relationship with talking toys when she was a baby.

Tori stares them down.

She also likes to crawl after the cat.

And Tigger? Remember Dani's fear of Tigger? And then the love/curiosity of Tigger which would always end in crying? We put Tori to the Tigger test, and she just owned Tigger. She didn't even flinch when Tigger started talking and moving.
Pretty soon, I think she's going to be taking Dani's toys and telling her who's boss! Here's a video of the kids with Tigger. Dani has a growing booty obsession. (sorry FB friends--you actually have to go to my blog to see this because the videos don't import)

Time to get working on photos for the Christmas card...stay tuned.

Arrrgh, Pirates are we!

After dinner tonight, Captain Dani sword, the fierce pirate, wanted to play. So we broke out the hats and foam swords!

Even Pirate Tori got into the game!

Here's our pirate video.

And, post-pirate, Dani channeling Dora the Explorer.

This age is just soooo fun!

6 month Tori report, a Dani guest post.

Hi everybody, Dani here. Mommy said that I could post tonight and give you the latest Tori news. She had her six month baby doctor visit today, and wow, she's big. She's 26.5 inches long and weighs 17 pounds and 5 ounces. What a hoss! When I was 6 months old I was 26.5 inches long too, but I only weighed 15 pounds and 12 ounces! (somebody's got to lay off the formula, if you ask me.)

Don't tell mommy and daddy, but I like playing with her. I pretend I'm not so interested, but I really do like spending time with her. Tonight during dinner, mommy let Tori sit on my lap.
Okay, well enough about Tori for now. There will be a video at the end of this post so you can see more Tori. For now, it's all about me! Today, I spent some time at Ruth's because Daddy had to take Tori to the doctor. She made my hair look really neat with lots of hair ties. When I got home, I took off my shirt and pants and put on daddy's socks. I think it's a really good look for me.
I also have this super awesome wagon that my local grandma Deb got for me. It has a seat for Tori, but Tori's too little for it now, so it's all mine! I like to go for rides in it--it even has cupholders! But remember, if you're going to drive the wagon, stick to juice. Don't drink and wagon.

Did you know that my mommy has tap shoes? She calls them heels, but I think they are tap shoes. When I put them on, each time I take a step it goes tap really loud. It's so much fun. It's kind of hard to walk in them because the heels are high and make me stand on my toes, but I love the sound they make. When I get bigger, I'm going to wear tap shoes too! And, in this picture, I put my Dora sunglasses on myself:
Ok, now some video for you. I feel like I have to tell you that my mommy's a lawyer, and the beginning was filmed without my knowledge. I might have to talk to her about being filmed playing with Tori without my consent. Anyway, here it is.

Okay, okay, I admit it, I like playing with my little sister. Busted. Anyway, mommy says I have to go to bed now, night night!

Tori almost crawls.

Tori, trying to crawl, humping the couch instead.

Too funny!

Six years.

Yesterday was our six year anniversary. It's odd, because it feels like it's been so much longer. I met Big Man when I was freshman in college. We dated for a bit, and he was one of my best friends afterwards. He's still my best friend today, and so much more.

Super dad, super husband...lucky me.

We are doing our Halloween prep. Picked up pumpkins yesterday, and are working on photos in the costumes. Dani's still a bit obsessed with dressing like a pirate.

Tori is teething, and teething and, well teething. But she's just too good natured to cry about it. She just drools instead.
Caught some video of the kids being silly yesterday.

Shortly thereafter, the kids went to bed, the sitter came over and Big Man and I went out to dinner.

Things I like, a Dani guest post.

Hi everybody, Dani here. Mommy said I could tell you about things I like tonight. I like my little sister Tori. She's starting to be pretty fun, and she laughs at everything I do.

I like pumpkins! We have a whole bunch and they light up. Mommy says that soon we can get real ones. It's for halloween, and I get to dress up too! Tori is going to wear my old bumblebee costume (but she probably won't look as cute as I did last year). I have an Elmo costume that I'm probably going to wear. For now, I like to dress up as a pirate. Mommy got me a pirate hat and sword. I keep telling her "eye patch" but she won't let me have one. Did you know that I know all my colors, and I can tell mommy that the pumpkin is orange. I'm really good at talking.

I like to wear mommy's glasses. I put them on and it makes the whole room look funny.

I like to be silly. It makes Tori laugh. Tonight during dinner, mommy was holding Tori and she was so much fun. Mommy made a video of it.

Okay, well I just wanted to give you all an update (especially you, GrandPA!). I'm going to go play with Tori now, bye bye!

Killin' me.

Tori has decided that she'll sleep for 11 hours or so at night. They're just the wrong 11 hours. She is ready to go to sleep by 7pm. She will wake up by about 5:15am, on average. Now, I know I can't really complain too much because my kid sleeps NONSTOP for 11 hours...but I will anyway. Dani was always a great sleeper too (still is) but when she was little, I would "top her off" and change her diaper around 10pm, give her a bottle and put her back to sleep. This move re-set the clock, essentially, so that she would sleep through the night and later into morning. And, the morning wake up was stretched out with the pacifier--my friend Gail mentioned that when her kids would first wake up at the crack of dawn, she'd give them their pacifier, and they'd often go back to sleep or just chill...but it helped lengthen the time they went between bottles and helped them to be better sleepers. That worked for Dani, as she looooved the pacifier, until she found her thumb. And she still looooooves her thumb--it actually has a callus on her suckin' thumb--I'm guessing from sleeping as she doesn't do it much during the day.

Tori's never used a pacifier--she spits them out--and she doesn't suck her thumb. She kind of chews on her hand, but that's because she's teething. So, she's going to wake up when she's going to wake up. And she lets us know she's up. First with little noises and then, if I wait long enough, with all out crying. (It doesn't usually get to that, but at 5am, I don't exactly rush out of bed, I usually say a little prayer that she will fall back to sleep--sometimes it buys me another 20 minutes or so.)

We're all programmed differently. Some are earlybirds, some night owls. I can handle lots of things. I am really good and productive in the mornings--as long as it's after about 6am or 6:30am. No matter how early I go to sleep, 5am always kicks my ass.

There are literally mornings where I hear Tori, and I promised Big Man that I would get up with her, and I lay in bed justifying waking him up to do it, and/or being pissed that he gets to sleep. (yes, resenting my saint of a husband who raises our girls all day and fights crime all night on about 4.5 hours of sleep). I'm just not at my best at 5am.

The only thing that makes it bearable is this little cutie. She is literally smiling and giggly the second I pick her up, and so, tired and grumpy makes way for tired and happy for my little snuggle pup.


And, Big Man took this cute one of Dani, who will sit still for approximately .003 minutes for me to do her hair, sat still so "Wuth" could give her cute little ponytails!


Here's a video of Tori, just being Tori. As Dani likes to say "spit bubbuws".

Expect more posts this week--Big Man heads back to work tonight. :>(

Also, Grandma Deb bought the girls a Radio Flyer wagon with canopy. Tori's a little small for it, but Dani and I will test it out tomorrow!

It's starting to grow on me, a Dani guest post.

Hi everybody, Dani here. It's been awhile so mommy said I could post tonight. Things are changing so much around here. First, I'm getting SO BIG! I talk to mommy and daddy all day long, and not just baby words, I talk in sentences. And, I sing songs and count too. And I listen to music with daddy. He's fun!

When I get a boo boo, I tell mommy to kiss it and she does and then it feels better. I am still trying to make friends with the kitty cat. Tonight I caught him under the table and he scratched me on the head. I don't know why, but it wasn't very nice.

But, most important, I wanted to tell you more about Tori. She's WAY more fun than she used to be. I make her laugh all the time. All I have to do is shake a toy near her and she just laughs and screeches and stuff. She's a silly baby. I'm also learning to share. It's not very fun. Don't tell mommy and daddy, but I figured out a way to make them think I'm sharing, when I'm really not. I just share the stuff I don't want to play with. Like if I want to play with something really fun, I will bring Tori a boring rattle or stuffed animal first, so I look like an angel, and then I can play with whatever I want without having to share with her.

She is pretty cute, and she smiles and laughs all the time. She's starting to sit up, and we play pattycake. She's not very good at it yet, but she is still a baby after all.

The only thing that's not fun is when Tori is taking a nap. I have to try to be quiet, and it's hard. She always falls asleep somewhere where I want to play and it's not fair. Today, I wanted to bang on my drum, but mommy stopped me because Tori was sleeping.One other cool thing is that she gets to sit in my old high chair, and I get to sit in my big girl high chair. It's like the kind they have in restaurants. Not that mommy and daddy ever take me to restaurants anymore. They used to when I was littler. Now, we just stay home. I'm not sure why, but one time I heard mommy suggest it and daddy said no way. He said something about yelling and messes, but I wasn't really sure what he meant. He is kind of a messy eater sometimes, but I've never heard him yell.

Mommy drinks this really yummy stuff called bubbles. Whenever she opens a can, she uses a straw so I can have some too. She says I make a mess if I drink out of the can, so I have to use a straw. But, now that I'm so big, sometimes mommy lets me hold the can, and the straw!

I took a video of Tori today. She was on her tummy and she was trying to play with a rattle. It was kind of cute, for a baby.

So, as you can see, I'm a pretty awesome big sister. Mommy says I have to go now, bye bye!

Compliments of Big Man.

It's a rare day when Big Man fires up the camera. I'm always urging him to do it, but he claims I already take more pictures than necessary. But every once in a while, like tonight, when he and the kids are asleep, I turn on the camera just to see if there are any surprises. Tonight, there were some good ones.


Tori looks like a deer in headlights. Now that Dani understands how cameras work and that she can make faces and pose and then see herself, she gets even more excited about taking pictures--but she's harder to keep still to pose. I am afraid it is time to rename McScreamy. Sure, she's fussy from time to time, but now she mostly smiles and chirps. She literally wakes up smiling. For now, she shall be known as McSmiley.
And, now that McSmiley is showing a bit of personality, Dani is much more interested in her. She talks to her and calls out "Tori" regularly. If you leave Tori alone for a minute, you will return to Dani sitting with her. If Tori starts to fuss, Dani will leave the room and return with a bib or a swaddle blanket, or will tell us to get "baby milk". She does not, however want Tori to have anything to play with.


Tori's teething, and the other night I gave her Dani's stuffed bunny to chew on. This is one of approximately 4700 stuffed things in the house. The look on Dani's face was first, shock. Mommy was a traitor who had clearly betrayed her first born. Then, it was pure baby rage. Dani, who literally has not played with the bunny in months, started yelling "waaaaaabbbbit" and crying and carrying on. I explained to her that Tori was playing with it and that we could get another stuffed animal for Dani. So I got a stuffed cow for Dani to hold. After a few more minutes of her loud protestations that she needed the wabbit, I told her that she could trade with Tori and that she could have the rabbit if Tori could have the cow.


I performed the swap.


Dani was still not pleased. (Truth be told, the bunny was pretty wet with Tori's slobber.) She hugged it, sniffed it and declared "baby milk" and flung it back at me. Apparently, the bunny was now tainted with the scent of formula and therefore unloveable.

A truce was made, and sealed with an episode of the Wiggles, and all was well.


Big Man managed to get a video of the in the recliner together (or "daddy's chair" as Dani calls it when I sit in it).

Good work, Big Man.

There ought to be a law, a Dani guest post

Hi everybody, Dani here. Mommy's busy with Tori, as usual, so I figured it was good time to give you all an update. Time sure flies! Did you know that I'm 20 months old? That's almost 2 years old! And, mommy tells me all the time that I'm super smart. I already knew I was super cute, but I guess it's even more important to be smart.

I haven't posted in awhile because I've been busy being a big sister. It sure is work. Mommy and daddy expect me to be a helper, and that means that I have to take Tori's diapers and put them in the garbage. Mommy and daddy have a special garbage can just for me to put the diapers in. When I do it they clap for me, and give me high fives. It's fun, enough I guess, since it is work, after all.

Tori's getting so big. When she first came here, she was just a boring, screamy baby. She has gotten so much bigger. She's still kinda screamy, and is always stealing mommy and daddy's attention, but she does neat stuff too. She smiles and screeches and waves her arms at me. And, if I make faces at her she laughs. That's kind of cute. But, mommy keeps letting Tori hold my old toys. She doesn't seem to understand that they are MINE. I might not have played with them that much lately, but that doesn't mean that Tori can just have them. It's just not fair.

Tonight, it was the worst. Mommy let Tori have tummy time on my ducky pillow. The pillow even has my name on it. Well, it has part of my name. My name's Dani, and that's D, then A, then N, then I. This pillow has D, then A, then N, then I, then E, then L, then another L, then an E. I don't know what a Danielle is, but I know that it's my pillow, and Tori drooled all over it. That's yucky.

Mommy took some video of Tori on my pillow tonight. I know mommy's a lawyer, and I am going to hope that some of her friends who read this blog are too.

Hey, mommy's lawyer friends, don't I have rights to my ducky pillow? Can I get an order of protection against Tori so she won't drool all over it? Should I get daddy's cuffs and put them on Tori? Or maybe on mommy because she took my property and gave it to Tori? I don't have that much money, but I have a piggy bank in my room--you can have it if you will help.

I give you, Dani's Video Exhibit A: mommy steals Dani's pillow (and gives it to Tori, her accomplice--does that make it a conspiracy?):

If you are willing to take my case, let me know--you can have the piggy bank, I promise. Uh, oh. Mommy's coming so I have to go. Bye bye!

Slowly but surely.

We are getting the hang of this two kid thing Well, Big Man probably had the hang of it the whole time, but I'm feeling, finally, like I'm getting the hang of it..Tonight, Dani, Tori and I went to David and Gail's for a little trampoline and outside time. (It helps to have a better adult:toddler/baby ratio than me alone!). But first, Tori tried out her exersaucer. It seems to be the only baby contraption she doesn't hate. Her arms were a little short to reach the toys, but she enjoyed it, and Dani stood outside it playing with her.

I let Dani hold her own banana tonight, and surprisingly, it went pretty well. I shot a quick video of she and Tori while she ate it.

That's the haps here. Tori's sleeping pretty well at night; if I give her a bottle around 11pm, she's good until at least 6am on most nights. Keeping my fingers crossed!

Mommy can't compete.

with the Wiggles, that is.

Yes, me, the woman who made sure to tell Big Man no less than 1,000 times while I was pregnant with Dani that the American Academy of Pediatrics says no television until a baby is 2, and made him promise not to let her watch TV.

I must confess, I know most of their songs. I rather like them, particularly the hunky blue Wiggle. The Wiggles have helped me to manage two babies, so Dani doesn't get too upset when Tori needs to be fed and held, etc.

She's so verbal now, that everything is an attempted sing-a-long, or she is shouting out colors and letters and numbers or counting. It's a blast.

She's also reached a point where her moods change like the wind. It must be her way. Now. Or there will be crying and fussing. Fortunately, she is easily distracted, and never fusses for more than a minute or three or four.

Cutest thing though is that when she's upset, she yells for "Boo Bunny", which is the little plastic ice cube in the freezer that you put inside a bunny for when she gets a boo boo. She apparently equates emotional pain with physical. Similarly, when she's upset, she will say "home" even if she's, well, home. And, if we are out, she will often wave and say "hi" to strangers. But, if someone approaches her and says hello, she will put her hand up and say "bye bye". It's such an interesting thing to watch how that little brain works.

So these are shots of Dani tonight--I needed to feed Tori, but had just gotten home from work, and Dani wanted my attention too. Enter the Wiggles.

She was being so adorable on the couch--but it was hard to get good candid shots because she couldn't decide whether she loved the Wiggles or the camera more. So she kept climbing off the couch and heading toward me when I picked up the camera. But I got a few good ones.

As you can see, there's not a lot of mommy-Dani eye contact going on, because I'm way less interesting than Jeff, Dani's favorite Wiggle. He's the purple one. (If anyone from the religious right is reading this, then clearly have determined that the purple Wiggle is clearly gay like Pat Robertson's purple teletubby, and that my child is a clearly a product of some left wing conspiracy to indocrinate toddlers into tolerance and love.)

I can't complain though. Dani can identify nearly every letter of the alphabet by sight. She even does things like flip a capital E and then tell me "M". She knows all the colors--even pink, and purple, and the hard ones like that. She can count to ten, identify the numbers by sight to ten, and what she knows, says and understands never ceases to amaze me.

And, that other kid, Tori. Superstar slept from 10:45pm last night to 7:00am this morning. When she woke up this morning I told her that she had achieved "most favored baby"status. She just smiled. She's so alert and interactive and darn cute. It's amazing how much more lovable a baby is when she isn't screaming.

But this whole thing is just hard. Being outnumbered. Two to my one. I love that Big Man and I are doing this basically solo--no structured day care or anything. And, I know that it's only going to get easier, but right now, it's downright hard. I miss my husband. Right now he's working 3 weeks of 6 days and then one week off--for the rest of the year. The week off is great--but the 6 days on--to the extent that they overlap with my 5 day week, are hard. We have about 20 minutes together in the morning, and less in the evening....I know it will only get easier. But I miss my loveable, snuggly Big Man. I miss seeing him play with the kids, because we are both playing, just at different times. I love that Dani's so advanced--and he's to thank for that, and she loves him so much. Seriously--she will run across the room to give daddy a kiss and when I practically beg for one she laughs and says no. I love that we are, for the most part (duly acknowledging help from local friends ad family) raising our kids all by ourselves, instead of needing formal care. So, I know we are doing the right thing for our children and our marriage, even if it's hard. And it's harder for Big Man, because on top of it all, he's soooo sleep deprived.

Hard or no, I wouldn't trade it.

I suppose that, if this is the hardest our lives will be (until they are teenagers!), then I have only to be thankful. I've been doing enough matrimonial and family court work to know that I'm extremely lucky.

Riding in cars with boys.

Today one of my oldest and dearest friends was in town. Janine Nelsen (nee West). I brought Dani and Tori to her mom and dad's house this morning, and it was a blast. Janine's got 3 little ones, her sister has two, (and there were dogs!) and my two meant that there was, shrieking, bubble blowing, pogo stick jumping and everything fun you can imagine.

AND, a car. A big, red car. With the letters "mustang" on the side, which Dani was happy to spell out, before she got to ride in it. At first, she just watched all the other kids drive and ride in it. When the car was close, she would run up to it and yell "red" and try to push the buttons on the dash.

Imagine her excitement when she was able to ride in it! Charlie Susi was happy to be the driver. But, first he made sure Dani's seat belt was fastened, and then they started zipping around the driveway.

Dani also rode with Janine's youngest, Clara Bea, who is 3. (It's funny because Dani at 20 months is as big as Clara at 3 years!) Dani ultimately refused to get out of the car, and encouraged all of the older kids to drive her around, saying "more" and "again". Janine's oldest, Ella, also gave Dani a ride!

It's so fun to see Dani with other kids and Tori too. Tori didn't make a peep, despite being held by everyone.

Last night we found a cute, little beret that I don't think Dani ever wore. Tori loved it, and was super-smiley at daddy.

And, a quick video clip of the car ride.

Back to the grind.

We are still working on getting back into the swing of things with Big Man working. It's like trying to squeeze a million things into the brief moments you have a parent-helper. But, it's fun. It seems like every day I come home from work, Dani has learned something new.

And, when I get home, Tori is usually all snuggly and cute for daddy. And I SWEAR, the second he closes the bedroom door to go to sleep, she becomes McScreamy! Curses!

Once again Blogger is being a pain about uploading video. I only managed to get this one on before I got a million error messages. Just a quick video Dani playing "naken" yesterday.

That's the haps. Hoping to post more video to facebook tonight as I'm done monkeying with blogger for the evening.

Last day.

Tonight is Big Man's last night of paternity leave--he goes back to work tomorrow night. It's been awesome having him home. Life gets exponentially harder now that we are each going to be tired and flying solo most of the time. At least he still has 3 weeks of vacation or so remaining for the balance of the year. I'm hoping we will take a road trip to NC in October for our anniversary...and the Bears play the Panthers that weekend, and grandma and grandpa will be thrilled to babysit while we go!

How cute is my little Tori? She's wearing 6 month clothes already, and she's 10 weeks... crazy.And a video from my folks' visit--I miss them. Dani now knows that we can talk to grandma and grandpa on the computer, so she is always demanding that we do so!

Stormy and loud here--hoping Dani sleeps through it.

Family reunion.

We went to a family reunion today. Technically, the family was one by marriage, but family that we love and hold dear nonetheless.

Tori started the day snoozing.
Dani went in a hammock for the first time. She and grandma had a blast in it.

I managed to grab her for a quick second for a picture.
Grandma and grandpa and Tori had a blast!Dani also got to bounce on a trampoline. She loved it.

And Shannon and Angela were good sports. I'm sure they would have preferred to bounce much higher, but once Dani got on she didn't want to get off!

It's so much fun having my folks here. I so wish they lived closer!

Bubbles and Rain.

Dani sitting with the angry whopper. It's so rare that Dani's sitting still and McScreamy isn't fussing.

I got home from work tonight, and quickly got changed to take Dani outside. She was asking for "bubbles" and holding the cool bubble blower that Auntie Barbara got for her. Don't you know that two minutes after we got outside it started to pour! Dani didn't mind, which is funny, because she screams if water gets on her head in the tub! So after a few minutes, I yelled for Big Man to get the camera...and here you go. She had a blast.

They are both getting so big!

Weekend wrapup.

The weekend was kind of a washout, but Dani and I spent some time outside on Friday evening. She's talking up a storm, and keeping us on our toes.

I took some videos outside--I've been trying to get her to master saying "grandma" and "grandpa" for my folks' visit in a few weeks.

And in the front yard:

Here, Dani had just woken up from a nap, ad I plopped Tori into her crib...it looks like they are sharing secrets.

I know they are going to have so much fun together when Tori's a little older!